Section 50p. 50

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW COMPENDIUM VOLUME II

Members of Internee Committees may appoint from

amongst the internees such assistants as they may

require. All material facilities shall be granted to them,

particularly a certain freedom of movement necessary for

the accomplishment of their duties (visits to labour

detachments, receipt of supplies, etc.).

All facilities shall likewise be accorded to members of

Internee Committees for communication by post and

telegraph with the detaining authorities, the Protecting

Powers, the International Committee of the Red Cross

and their delegates, and with the organizations which

give assistance to internees. Committee members in

labour

detachments

shall

enjoy

similar

facilities

for

communication with their Internee Committee in the

principal place of internment. Such communications shall

not be limited, nor considered as forming a part of the

quota mentioned in Article 107.

Members of Internee Committees who are transferred

shall be allowed a reasonable time to acquaint their

successors with current affairs.

Chapter VIII. Relations with the Exterior

Art. 105. Immediately upon interning protected persons,

the Detaining Powers shall inform them, the Power to

which they owe allegiance and their Protecting Power of

the measures taken for executing the provisions of the

present Chapter. The Detaining Powers shall likewise

inform

the

Parties

concerned

of

any

subsequent

modifications of such measures.

Art. 106. As soon as he is interned, or at the latest not

more than one week after his arrival in a place of

internment, and likewise in cases of sickness or transfer to

another place of internment or to a hospital, every

internee shall be enabled to send direct to his family, on

the one hand, and to the Central Agency provided for by

Article 140, on the other, an internment card similar, if

possible,

to

the

model

annexed

to

the

present

Convention,

informing

his

relatives of his detention,

address and state of health. The said cards shall be

forwarded as rapidly as possible and may not be delayed

in any way.

Art. 107. Internees shall be allowed to send and receive

letters

and

cards.

If the Detaining Power deems it

necessary to limit the number of letters and cards sent by

each internee, the said number shall not be less than two

letters and four cards monthly; these shall be drawn up so

as to conform as closely as possible to the models

annexed to the present Convention. If limitations must be

placed on the correspondence addressed to internees,

they may be ordered only by the Power to which such

internees owe allegiance, possibly at the request of the

Detaining

Power.

Such

letters

and

cards

must

be

conveyed with reasonable despatch; they may not be

delayed or retained for disciplinary reasons.

Internees who have been a long time without news, or

who

find

it

impossible

to

receive

news from their

relatives, or to give them news by the ordinary postal

route, as well as those who are at a considerable distance

from their homes, shall be allowed to send telegrams, the

charges being paid by them in the currency at their

disposal. They shall likewise benefit by this provision in

cases which are recognized to be urgent.

As a rule, internees' mail shall be written in their own

language. The Parties to the conflict may authorize

correspondence in other languages.

Art. 108. Internees shall be allowed to receive, by post or

by

any other means, individual parcels or collective

shipments containing in particular foodstuffs, clothing,

medical supplies, as well as books and objects of a

devotional, educational or recreational character which

may meet their needs. Such shipments shall in no way

free the Detaining Power from the obligations imposed

upon it by virtue of the present Convention.

Should military necessity require the quantity of such

shipments to be limited, due notice thereof shall be given

to

the

Protecting

Power

and

to

the

International

Committee of the Red Cross, or to any other organization

giving assistance to the internees and responsible for the

forwarding of such shipments.

The conditions for the sending of individual parcels and

collective shipments shall, if necessary, be the subject of

special

agreements

between

the Powers concerned,

which may in no case delay the receipt by the internees

of relief supplies. Parcels of clothing and foodstuffs may

not include books. Medical relief supplies shall, as a rule,

be sent in collective parcels.

Art. 109. In the absence of special agreements between

Parties to the conflict regarding the conditions for the

receipt and distribution of collective relief shipments, the

regulations

concerning

collective

relief

which

are

annexed to the present Convention shall be applied.

The special agreements provided for above shall in no

case restrict the right of Internee Committees to take

possession of collective relief shipments intended for

internees, to undertake their distribution and to dispose

of them in the interests of the recipients. Nor shall such

agreements restrict the right of representatives of the

Protecting Powers, the International Committee of the

Red Cross, or any other organization giving assistance to

internees and responsible for the forwarding of collective

shipments,

to

supervise

their

distribution

to

the

recipients.

Art. 110. An relief shipments for internees shall be exempt

from import, customs and other dues.

All matter sent by mail, including relief parcels sent by

parcel post and remittances of money, addressed from

other countries to internees or despatched by them

through the post office, either direct or through the

Information Bureaux provided for in Article 136 and the

Central Information Agency provided for in Article 140,

shall be exempt from all postal dues both in the countries

of origin and destination and in intermediate countries.

To this end, in particular, the exemption provided by the

Universal

Postal

Convention

of

1947

and

by

the

agreements of the Universal Postal Union in favour of

civilians

of enemy nationality detained in camps or

civilian prisons, shall be extended to the other interned

persons

protected

by

the

present

Convention.

The

countries

not

signatory

to

the

above-mentioned

agreements shall be bound to grant freedom from

charges in the same circumstances.

The cost of transporting relief shipments which are

intended for internees and which, by reason of their

weight or any other cause, cannot be sent through the

post office, shall be borne by the Detaining Power in all

the territories under its control. Other Powers which are

Parties to the present Convention shall bear the cost of

transport in their respective territories.

Costs connected with the transport of such shipments,

which are not covered by the above paragraphs, shall be

charged to the senders.

The High Contracting Parties shall endeavour to reduce,

so far as possible, the charges for telegrams sent by

internees, or addressed to them.

Art. 111. Should military operations prevent the Powers

concerned from fulfilling their obligation to ensure the

conveyance of the mail and relief shipments provided for

in Articles 106, 107, 108 and 113, the Protecting Powers

concerned, the International Committee of the Red Cross

or any other organization duly approved by the Parties to

the conflict may undertake the conveyance of such

shipments by suitable means (rail, motor vehicles, vessels

or aircraft, etc.). For this purpose, the High Contracting

Parties

shall

endeavour

to

supply

them

with

such

transport,

and

to

allow

its

circulation, especially by

granting the necessary safe-conducts.

Such transport may also be used to convey:

© Compiled by RGL

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