The UK has reportedly offered dozens of stranded migrants stranded in a camp on a secretive UK-US military island a temporary move to Romania.
The group of Tamils became the first to claim asylum on Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands in 2021 after their boat ran into trouble.
The Government is now offering dozens of them a deal whereby they move to Romania temporarily after which they could be moved to the UK, the BBC reported.
Some have been offered incentives to go to Sri Lanka, where they say they will face persecution.
Diego Garcia is the largest island of the Chagos Archipelago, part of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT).
It has been used as a joint UK-US military base since the 1970s, following the forcible expulsion of its inhabitants by the UK government.
The island has an unusual constitutional status, which led to a long dispute about the migrants’ rights.
Government lawyers have argued that the refugee convention is not in force because it is "constitutionally distinct" from the UK.
Instead, a separate process was used to determine whether the Tamils should be returned to Sri Lanka, or be given international protection - which is similar to refugee status.
Most of the 56 people are awaiting decisions on those claims, reported the broadcaster, with eight in total granted international protection.
A separate legally complex court hearing was held in Diego Garcia last month over whether the group had been unlawfully detained in a small fenced camp, which is guarded by private security company G4S.
A judgement in that case is expected soon.
It comes after the Government announced a “historic” deal last week to renounce UK sovereignty over the islands, which are claimed by Mauritius.
However, it will retain effective control over Diego Garcia, due to its housing of the military base.
Under the deal reached by Sir Keir Starmer with Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) or Chagos Islands is to be handed back more than five decades after the rest of Mauritius won independence from the UK.
But the UK will remain “authorised to exercise the sovereign rights of Mauritius on Diego Garcia”, where the US-UK base occupies a strategically vital role amid growing tensions with China and India.
Speaking on the migrants’ case, a Foreign Office spokesperson told the broadcaster ministers had been working to find a solution which protects their welfare and "the integrity of British territorial borders".
The spokesperson said relocating the most vulnerable of them while their legal claims are assessed would give them “greater safety and wellbeing”.
Lawyers from the UK firms Leigh Day and Duncan Lewis, who represent some of those affected, called for the camp to be closed down “without delay" and said that the UK government should "find a viable long term solution for all of the individuals and families".
