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A small sum is held in reserve by the Department of Social Security, North Fylde Central Office, Norcross, Blackpool, FY5 3TA, to meet possible future claims. A further sum is held in a trust fund administered by the Far East (Prisoners of War and Internees) Fund, 30 Copsewood Way, Bearstead, Maidstone, Kent, ME15 8PL, which seeks to give financial help to former Far Eastern Prisoners of War, civilian internees and their dependent relatives in particular need.
Article 14(b) of the Treaty specifically waived all claims which were not expressly provided for in the Treaty itself. The only other article in the Treaty which dealt with compensation was Article 16. An agreed Minute of 1954 between the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a representative of the Allied Powers stated that the payment of £4.5 million received by the Allied Powers would be recognised as a full discharge by the Japanese Government of its obligations under Article 16 of the Treaty. I am afraid that this means that there is no basis for a further governmental approach to the Japanese on this issue. This view is shared by other Allied Power governments.
I hope that this information is useful to you. I am returning
our files.
letter. We have kept a copy for
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Claims to the UN Human Rights Commission HM Government is aware of reports that claims against Japan for compensation have been brought, by Allied ex-Servicemen, before the United Nations Human Rights Commission. The Commission has a procedure for dealing with communications about gross violations of human rights, under the terms of the Economic and Social Council Resolution 1503, of
12 June 1970. HM Government cannot comment on the details of specific communications, because the Commission's deliberations about such petitions are confidential. However, it is only fair to point out here that its criteria include the requirement that "communications be submitted a reasonable time after the exhaustion of domestic remedies".
The Geneva Convention
Japan signed but did not ratify the International Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (Geneva,
27 July 1929). This Convention did not in any case contain any provisions about claims for compensation. On
21 April 1953 Japan acceded to the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (Geneva, 12 August 1949), which replaced the 1929 Jonvention.
ORLABD