The UN has passed a resolution demanding the UK return control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. As previously reported in Legalbrief Today, Mauritius says it was forced to give up the Indian Ocean group in 1965 in exchange for independence. The archipelago is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 individual tropical islands in the Indian Ocean about 500km south of the Maldives archipelago. The UN resolution follows a recent ruling by the UN's High Court advised that the UK should leave the islands 'as rapidly as possible'. In the non-binding vote in the General Assembly in New York, 116 states were in favour and only six against. The result marks a major diplomatic blow to the UK. BBC News reports that 56 states, including France and Germany, abstained. The UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office said Britain did not recognise Mauritius' claim to sovereignty, but would stand by an earlier commitment to hand over control of the islands to Mauritius when they were no longer needed for defence purposes.