Timothy Jacob-Owens by Ian Sanjay Patel, when British Asians were denied the right to enter the UK as they fled persecution in the former protectorates of Kenya and Uganda.123 The latent inequalities of British subjecthood were later (partially) formalized under the British Nationality Act 1981, which distinguished between full “British citizenship”124 and the lesser categories of “British Dependent Territories citizenship”125 and “British Overseas citizenship”,126 as well as a residual category of “British subjects”. 127 Only individuals holding the first of these statuses, predominantly white Britons with ancestral ties to the British Isles, held an unqualified right to enter the UK. Weaponised citizenship – both in the form of “long distance nationality” and “zombie citizenship” – has thus historically been a core tool of empire, allowing Britain to claim supremacy over colonized populations while simultaneously denying them core citizenship rights. Oppressive nationality or reparative citizenship? In more recent years, the UK government has taken steps to facilitate access to British citizenship for various (formerly) colonized groups who were previously denied access to the status. These include the historical inhabitants of the Chagos Islands (officially known as the British Indian Ocean Territory or BIOT), an archipelago recently described by Philippe Sands as Britain’s “last colony” in Africa,128 who were forcibly removed in the mid-1960s in order to make room for a US military base. At the time, no plan was made to compensate the Chagos Islanders or to allow them to resettle in the UK, leaving many stranded in Mauritius or the Seychelles. As a consequence, while some members of the Chagossian diaspora have subsequently been able to acquire either full British citizenship or British Dependent Territories citizenship (later renamed “British Overseas Territories citizenship”),129 others hold citizenship of Mauritius or the Seychelles. In 2002, limited provision was made to allow the children of women born on the Chagos Islands to access full British citizenship.130 Twenty years later, following sustained campaigning by members of the Chagossian community,131 a new citizenship registration route has now been created for all “direct descendants” of individuals born on the islands.132 These measures can be thought to exemplify what Amanda Frost has called “reparative citizenship”, i.e. a form of corrective justice for the members of groups (and their descendants) who have historically been unjustly excluded.133 This chimes with the views expressed by some of the Chagos Islanders themselves. For instance, in written evidence submitted to the UK parliament, the BIOT People’s Empowerment Social Media Platform argued that facilitated access to British citizenship was needed to address ‘historical unfairness’134 and ‘to make proper amends for the discrimination that the Ilois [i.e. Chagossians] have suffered’ at the hands of the UK government.135 From this perspective, providing a fast-track, extra-territorial route to acquiring British citizenship, which carries with it a legal right of abode in the UK, would seem to go some way towards remedying the injustices of the past. There are further empirical nuances to consider, however. Chagossian Voices, another campaign group, has argued in favour of facilitated access to British citizenship on the basis that this would offer a means of escaping the marginalization and discrimination still suffered by those residing in 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 Patel I. (2021), We're Here Because You Were There: Immigration and the End of Empire, Verso Books. British Nationality Act 1981, Part I (United Kingdom). Id., part II. Id., part III. Id., part IV. Sands P. (2022), The Last Colony A Tale of Exile, Justice and Britain's Colonial Legacy, Blackwell’s. British Overseas Territories Act 2002, s.2 (United Kingdom). Id., s.6. Grierson J., ‘Chagos Islands descendants can apply to become British nationals’, The Guardian, 23 March 2022, Chagos Islands descendants can apply to become British nationals | Chagos Islands | The Guardian. 132 Nationality and Borders Act 2022, s.3 (United Kingdom). 133 Amanda Frost (2022), ‘The rise of reparative citizenship’, Citizenship Studies, 26:4-5, 454-459. 134 Written evidence from BIOT Citizens (NBB0019), UK Parliament, committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/38467/pdf/. 135 Id. 25 Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies