4948 (b) that the distributors of relief (e.g. the International
Red Cross delegates) should have authority in cases of extreme distress, to divert relief intended for prisoners of war of a particular nationality, to other prisoners of war, if the health or lives of the latter were endangered; the United Kingdom, United States and other delegations at the 1947 Conference resisted giving any such general authority in advance, observing that in such circumstances, the delegate concerned must act on his own responsibility and seek concurrence, after the event, from the country whose relief supplies he had diverted; and the 1947 Conference supported this view;
(c) that, to prevent prisoners of war from hoarding
foodstuffs, the Camp Leader should have the right to demand immediate consumption of food parcels: the 1947 Conference rejected this Regulation as difficult to define and administer, preferring to leave such matters to the discretion of Camp Leaders.
My Committee recommend that the United Kingdom delegation to a future International Conference:-
(a) should support the revised Article 37 of the Prisoners
of War Convention recommended by the 1947 Conference (U. R. G. J. /M (48)1, Item 5);
(b) ~ should support the recommendations of the 1947
Geneva Conference of Government Experts regarding
(i) limitations of the application of Article 37
being subject to special agreement (U. X. G. C. /M (48)1, Item 5);
(ii) annexing to the Convention, regulations
regarding the supervision, distribution and control of relief supplies (C.R.G.-C./M(48)1, Item 6); (see also paragraph 286 below)
(c) should resist the proposals referred to in paragraph 119
above (.R.G../M(48)1, Item 6).
121. Transport by Land of Relief Supplies for Prisoners of War. The only provisions in the 1929 Prisoners of War Convention covering carriage of relief supplies are in Article 38, viz:-
122.
(a) if postal packets and addressed to individuals
they are exempt from all postal charges: there are corresponding provisions in the International Postal and Parcels Conventions the United Kingdom are party to the Postal, but not to the Parcel Convention: nevertheless during the Second World War the United Kingdom applied the provisions of the International Parcel Convention to parcels addressed to prisoners of war;
(b) "relief in kind intended for prisoners of war shall be exempt from all......... charges for carriage on railways operated by the State:" in practice during the Second World War, the United Kingdom applied this provision as if the words "operated
Page 249 of the State" were omitted. Page 249 of 488
It will be observed from paragraph 121 above that, except for postal parcels addressed individually, there is no provision regarding
24
121
regarding exemption from carriage charges, except on "railways operated by the State"; and during the Second World War the German, Italian and French (Vichy) Governments agreed to carry consignments of collective relief Psuppl250 fed & charge on the railways Page 20 f488sentations by the International Red Cross Committee, they having argued that, in view of the first paragraph, the second paragraph of Article 39 of the 1929 Prisoners of War Convention related only to individually addressed parcels. These facts are mentioned only to show that the terms of this Article lack precision.
123. The 1947 Geneva Conference of Government Experts accordingly recommended that all relief supplies intended for prisoners of war should be carried free of charge:-
(a) on railways in any country, belligerent or neutral,
party to the Convention;
(b) by road transport in the territory of the Detaining
Power.
Carriage by road transport outside the territory of the Detaining Power should be arranged between the senders and the owners or operators of the road transport vehicles concerned.
124. The United States delegation proposed at the 1947 Conference that posts incidental to the movement of "letters, postal cards, bags and parcels addressed to prisoners of war", other than postal charges, import and other duties, may be charged "to the Power in whose forces the prisoner of war served", but the Conference rejected this proposal.
125. My Committee recommend that the United Kingdom delegation to a future International Conference should
the 1947 Geneva Conference of Governmen, port the recommendations of
Experts regarding responsibility for charges for carriage of relief supplies, intended for prisoners of war, by rail or by road, as set out in paragraph 123 above. (C.R.G.C./M(48)1, Item 7)
126.
The
Transport by Sea of Relief Supplies for Prisoners of War. 1929 Prisoners of War Convention makes no reference to the provision of, or charges for, sea transport of relief supplies: no difficulty arose. on this head during the First World War, or in the Second World War until after the occupation of France in 1940. From the middle of 1940 relief supplies for British prisoners of war were sent under United Kingdom arrangements, to Lisbon, whence it was hoped that onward carriage by rail would operate. The volume of supplies, and the consequent delays rendered the land route from Lisbon completely inadequate, and the General Post Office, in co-operation with the British Red Cross War Organisation, the Portuguese Post Office and the International Red Cross Committee, therefore sought an alternative route.
127. The problem was solved by the hiring by the British Red Cross of qertain small neutral ships to which, through the good offices of the International Red Cross Committee, all the belligerents agreed to give
and also to these ships bearing safe conduct from Lisbon to Marseilles; the Red Cross markings on a white ground. This was an entirely new protective use of the Red Cross emblem.
128. Later, a Swiss Foundation for Red Cross Transports was established by the International Red Cross Committee, and this Foundation gradually acquired from belligerents a fleet of ships which, marked with the Red Cross on a white ground, carried relief supplies eto. for prisoners of war, under safe conduct from all the belligerents. The Swiss Foundation was not welcomed by the United Kingdom Government and no direct assistance
but the American Red was given to it in its efforts to acquire shipping; Cross gave it strong support and the Foundation's ships carried on Transatlantic and other voyages, Canadian Red Cross, as well as American Red Cross relief supplies for prisoners of war in Europe.
1.29.
The International Red Cross Committee are eager to secure in any future Prisonage of Way Convention formal recognition of this new development:
and in the Preliminary Documents Pegarding the Brisoners of War Convention submitted by the International Red Cross Committee to the 1947 Geneva Conference of Government Experts, Volume II, pages 110-
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115, the International Red Cross Committee submitted for study, eleven points regarding the use of maritime and aerial (see paragraphs 137 and 138 below) transport to convey