Why is everybody talking about the Chagos Islands?

You might've heard a lot of people talking about the Chagos Islands recently.

They are a group of more than 60 individual tropical islands in the Indian Ocean.

Their history and ownership has been debated for a long time, and that's why they are in the news now.

The islands used to be part of Mauritius, another island in the Indian Ocean.

Mauritius claims it was forced to give up the Chagos Islands in exchange for independence from Britain.

Britain bought the Chagos Islands shortly after its separation from Mauritius in 1965.

Britain then invited the US to build a military base on Diego Garcia, one of the smaller islands.

This meant more space was needed on the island so between 1968 and 1974, Britain removed thousands of people from their homes on the island and sent them to nearby Mauritius and Seychelles.

People who lived on the island were called Chagossians, and they were very unhappy that they had to leave their homes.

Many of them lived in poverty after they were forced to settle in their new countries. The UK has repeatedly apologised for the forced evictions.

This year, the United Nations, also known as the UN, voted that Britain should give up its control of the Chagos Islands, and let Mauritius have control once more.

The UN gave the UK six months to make this happen, but the deadline now passed and the UK still hasn't given up control.

Now lots of the people who were forced to leave their homes are angry that the UK hasn't given up ownership.

A protest is expected outside the UK high commission in Mauritius demanding that the UK speeds up the process.

The deadline is not binding, so no sanctions or immediate punishment will follow - but that could change.