PRISONERS OF WAR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 June 1941, Page 2

PRISONERS OF WAR

♦ THEIR CARE & TREATMENT INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT. ' EXPLANATION OF PROVISIONS. i When the news comes io a home I that the head of the family or a son is a prisoner of war in Germany, it I will be a comfort to know certain facts I about the treatment of prisoners of war. No prisoner of war may be treated "anyhow." By international agreement between 01 nations associated through their national Red Cross Societies with the International Red Cross at Geneva, there has grown up. through the course I of years, international agreements on | the care and treatment of combatant war captives. When a country goes to war the first act by le Comite International de la Croix Rouge, the official title of the International Red Cross, is to appoint] an official delegate to each belligerent , country. | This delegate has very wide powers, agreed to internationally. He has complete freedom of movement; he takes no orders except from Geneva; he can enter any prisoner’s camp at any time he pleases, demand audience of the camp commandant and talk with any prisoner in private. He has to be satisfied that camp sanitation, medical equipment, the provision of religious opportunities, quantity and quality of food, facilities for exercise and a degree of comfort demanded internationally are all up to standard. Warmth must be provided. He is the searchlight which sheds its beams on possible dark corners. Any criticism he may have to make he voices to the government concerned. If „ 'iot. he transmits his criticism to Geneva and the report of his visits is published in the monthly “Revue of th» International Red Cross.” This is on sale to the world, and any falling-off in agreed standards of treatment of prisoners of war in any country can thus be known everywhere. In every camp, both for privates and non-commissioned officers and for officers, a camp leader is chosen by his j fellow prisoners. Usually he is the senior non-commissioned officer in a privates’ camp and the senior officer in an officers’ camp. In the words of Geneva, he is the homme de confiance. He has the internationally agreed right to demand a private interview with the camp commandant in order to lay any grievance before him personally. Usually such a grievance is rectified immediately. If nothing is done the homme de confiance has the right to demand private audience with the , International Red Cross Delegate. Owing to the choice of first-class men j as homines de confiance it may be ( taken that trivial grievances are not , put forward.

With regard to food, each prisons) has the right to be fed on a style anc with the quantity of food given to reserve troops of the detaining power To supplement this ration the Prisoners of War Department of the Rec Cross and St John, operating from St James's Palace, London, under the chairmanship of the Lord Chamberlain, sends every week to every British prisoner of war and to British interned civilians in German hands, parcels of food. The cost is borne by the British Red Cross. This ensures really first-class nourishment. This is the only source through which parcels may be sent. All food must be bought, packed and despatched by this Department. No disciplinary measures affecting a I prisoner's food is permitted. All pri- ? soners must have means provided for i cooking supplementary rations. . i Clothing, underwear and footwear s i j must be supplied to every prisoner by J 1 the detaining power. j' Every camp must have a properly I equipped infirmary with a doctor. Any j prisoner may demand to see the doctor at any time. A seriously ill prisoner, or one re- ■ quiring an operation, must be admitted, j I at the expense of the detaining power, ]' to a military or civil hospital for treat- , ment. L All prisoners of war must be medii cally examined at least once a month. I Complete freedom of religious duties j is ordained. lj No prisoner may be employed on 11 dangerous or unhealthy work. Il If a prisoner is in such a state of 11 health that he considers he will never II again be able to take up arms he may I claim to be examined by a panel of | three doctors, two of whom must be j neutral. If the panel decides in his favJour he is repatriated. All ranks are permitted to correspond with tlpeir relatives. The monthly 1 number of letters is a matter of arrangement between the belligerents. No prisoner may be incarcerated in a civil or military prison. These, in brief, are the rights of I prisoners of war. enjoyed by all prisonI ers of war in all of the G 1 Red Cross I signatory Powers. j Over all is the constant, watchful ] eye of the Comite International de la Croix Rouge at Geneva, regularly fed with complete reports from each International Delegate—reports, let it be repeated, which are available to the j world. Great Britain ratified the International Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War on June 23 1931. in company with the Commonwealth of Australia. New Zealand, the Union of South Africa. Canada and India.