Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949.

3094  Section V of Part III is concerned with ensuring that prisoners of war remain connected with the outside world in certain essential respects. The ability to communicate with their families, in particular, can be vital in maintaining morale.[1] Relief shipments can prove essential where supplies are otherwise lacking. Moreover, contact with the exterior also serves as a check on the treatment of detainees.[2]

3095  According to Article 69, the Detaining Power must inform both the prisoners of war in its hands and the Powers on which they depend of the measures taken to implement the provisions of this section.

3096  Recording information about an individual’s detention serves to account for their whereabouts, thereby ensuring that no one goes missing or is forcibly disappeared.[3] Pursuant to Article 70, a prisoner of war’s capture must be communicated at the earliest possible moment following capture, and within certain time limits, to the prisoner’s family and to the Central Prisoners of War Agency (now known as the Central Tracing Agency).[4]

3097  Article 71 deals with the right of prisoners of war to correspond, which is of ‘fundamental importance’.[5] The ability of prisoners of war to correspond with the outside world is no less important today than it was in 1949. The experience of armed conflicts since the Second World War has shown that such communication improves the mental state of prisoners of war. However, the fact of armed conflict might mean that limits have to be set on the number of letters and cards that a prisoner may send and receive. The need for censorship, coupled with the fact that prisoners may correspond in a variety of languages, may also mean that the number of letters and cards has to be limited to ensure that they reach their recipients in a timely manner.

3098  Article 72 is the first of a series of provisions (Articles 72–76) regulating relief shipments for prisoners of war. These shipments may contain tangible goods of a diverse nature, which all have in common that the person or entity sending them (family, friends, relief societies, the Power on which the prisoner depends, etc.) wishes to render the prisoner’s daily existence more pleasant or meaningful.

3099  Article 73 deals with the matter of how collective relief shipments, i.e. parcels that are not addressed by name to a particular prisoner of war,[6] are to be distributed.

3100  The purpose of Article 74 is to ensure that financial constraints are no impediment to prisoners’ right to send and receive correspondence or to receive relief supplies and remittances of money. To achieve this objective, the High Contracting Parties agreed not to charge certain dues or fees that would otherwise be levied on correspondence and relief shipments, namely ‘import, customs and other dues’ (taxes not corresponding to any service) and ‘postal dues’ (charges in exchange for a service). In addition, the High Contracting Parties undertook to bear the costs of transport of relief shipments in certain circumstances. Lastly, they also committed to ‘endeavour to reduce’ telegram charges.

3101  Under the Third Convention, the obligation to ensure the transport of letters, parcels and documents, from despatch to receipt, rests primarily with the High Contracting Parties, including their postal services. Military operations may, however, disrupt these services, and as a result also hamper the High Contracting Parties’ ability to comply with this obligation. Article 75 provides a solution for that eventuality by allowing for entities other than the High Contracting Parties concerned to organize the transport of letters, parcels and documents via alternative means. Thus, this provision seeks to ensure that prisoners of war are able to maintain contact with the outside world despite the practical difficulties that postal and other transport services may encounter owing to ongoing military operations.

3102  Article 76 regulates three principal issues: the censorship of correspondence; the examination of consignments; and the temporary prohibition of correspondence. This article seeks to balance the interests of the prisoners of war in sending and receiving correspondence with the interests of the Parties to the conflict in controlling the sort of information that is exchanged between prisoners and the outside world. It does so by allowing the States concerned to censor correspondence, while setting limits on the process by which that censorship is carried out. The balance between the interests of prisoners of war and the interests of the Parties to the conflict applies also with respect to relief consignments, regulating the process by which such consignments are examined. In the exceptional situation that correspondence has to be prohibited, Article 76 provides that the prohibition must be temporary and for the shortest time possible.

3103  Article 77 concerns the duty of the Detaining Power to accord prisoners of war the requisite facilities for the preparation, execution and transmission of legal documents. It complements Article 14(3) in preserving the full civil capacity of prisoners of war. The documents include those relating to marriage, divorce and separation, to children and to the sale, mortgage or transfer of land or other property, whether movable or immovable.