Comment by aguaviva

Absolutely nothing.

Not true at all, as regards the political aspects. There's also the people living there, or who rather had been until they were forcibly deported[0] long so long ago. And their situation also has very considerable legal and political significance. In regard to which there's also been an ICJ case with several very sharply-worded rulings starting 2019. It is also quite significant in regard to the global movement in favor of Right of Return[1], with implications for a certain third country[2] that not so coincidentally shares an excrutiatingly vexed history with both the islands' illegal occupiers up until the current date.

Of course, there are many in this crowd who at this point will say: "The fuck it does -- no one cares about the Chagossians and their long-standing claims for reparations for what the US and UK have done to them along with this pesky thing some people refer to as moral injury. And of course the ICJ doesn't matter anyway."

But I say: These things very much do matter. And it is the very fact that the US and UK thought (until recently with near certainty) that they could keep presenting a middle finger to these people and their claims, not to mention their simple dignity as human beings for so long without any repercussions is precisely why it matters, both politically and in legal terms.

And of course those who say the ICJ doesn't matter -- or that Right of Return doesn't matter -- don't matter anyway.

[0] - https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/02/15/thats-when-nightmare-s...

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_return

[2] - https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/palestine-israel/2024/0...