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Viral Video: British Lord Gets Reality Check On 'Territorial Integrity' At Indian Conference
British House Of Lords member
In a viral moment that has captured global attention, a British House of Lords member faced a pointed reality check on the topic of 'territorial integrity' during a heated exchange at the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi.
In a video clip of the exchange, Lord Peter Mandelson, a British politician, while addressing the attendees during a debate, chided the "so-called" Global South on the principles of territorial integrity and anti-colonialism.
However, his response was met with pointed criticism from another participants.
Samir Saran, President of the Observer Research Foundation, and Maneesh Gobin, Foreign Minister of Mauritius, were quick to point out the irony in Mandelson's remarks.
Saran underscored the contradiction of a British Lord lecturing on anti-colonialism as the UK was a major colonial power for centuries, while Gobin questioned why the principles of territorial integrity did not seem to apply to the Chagos Archipelago, a territory that has been a point of contention between the United Kingdom and Mauritius.
"It's kind of ironic where that came from," Saran said, referring to the colonial past of the United Kingdom.
"Territorial integrity should apply equally to the Chagos Archipelago. Territorial integrity should not apply with one set of rules in a particular area of the world and not apply with the same set of rules in another area of the world," Gobin said in response to the British MP.
The Chagos Archipelago, located in the Indian Ocean, has been at the heart of a long-standing dispute over sovereignty and human rights. In the 1960s and 1970s, the indigenous population was forcibly removed by the British government to make way for a US military base on Diego Garcia, one of the islands.
Mauritius has since sought to regain control over the archipelago, arguing that it was illegally detached from its territory prior to independence.
However, Britain has not complied with the ICJ's advisory opinion or the UN resolution, maintaining that it has every right to hold onto the islands until 2036, as per an agreement with the United States regarding the military base on Diego Garcia.
