Section I. Direct Repatriation and Accommodation in Neutral
Countries
Art 109. Subject to the provisions of the third paragraph of
this Article, Parties to the conflict are bound to send back to
their own country, regardless of number or rank, seriously
wounded and seriously sick prisoners of war, after having cared
for them until they are fit to travel, in accordance with the
first paragraph of the following Article.
Throughout the duration of hostilities, Parties to the
conflict shall endeavour, with the cooperation of the neutral
Powers concerned, to make arrangements for the accommodation in
neutral countries of the sick and wounded prisoners of war
referred to in the second paragraph of the following Article.
They may, in addition, conclude agreements with a view to the
direct repatriation or internment in a neutral country of
able-bodied prisoners of war who have undergone a long period of
captivity.
No sick or injured prisoner of war who is eligible for
repatriation under the first paragraph of this Article, may be
repatriated against his will during hostilities.
Art 110. The following shall be repatriated direct:
(1) Incurably wounded and sick whose mental or physical
fitness seems to have been gravely diminished.
(2) Wounded and sick who, according to medical opinion, are
not likely to recover within one year, whose condition
requires treatment and whose mental or physical fitness seems
to have been gravely diminished.
(3) Wounded and sick who have recovered, but whose mental or
physical fitness seems to have been gravely and permanently
diminished.
The following may be accommodated in a neutral country:
(1) Wounded and sick whose recovery may be expected within
one year of the date of the wound or the beginning of the
illness, if treatment in a neutral country might increase the
prospects of a more certain and speedy recovery.
(2) Prisoners of war whose mental or physical health,
according to medical opinion, is seriously threatened by
continued captivity, but whose accommodation in a neutral
country might remove such a threat.
The conditions which prisoners of war accommodated in a
neutral country must fulfil in order to permit their repatriation
shall be fixed, as shall likewise their status, by agreement
between the Powers concerned. In general, prisoners of war who
have been accommodated in a neutral country, and who belong to
the following categories, should be repatriated:
(1) Those whose state of health has deteriorated so as to fulfil
the condition laid down for direct repatriation; (2) Those whose
mental or physical powers remain, even after treatment,
considerably impaired.
If no special agreements are concluded between the Parties to
the conflict concerned, to determine the cases of disablement or
sickness entailing direct repatriation or accommodation in a
neutral country, such cases shall be settled in accordance with
the principles laid down in the Model Agreement concerning direct
repatriation and accommodation in neutral countries of wounded
and sick prisoners of war and in the Regulations concerning Mixed
Medical Commissions annexed to the present Convention.
Art 111. The Detaining Power, the Power on which the prisoners
of war depend, and a neutral Power agreed upon by these two
Powers, shall endeavour to conclude agreements which will enable
prisoners of war to be interned in the territory of the said
neutral Power until the close of hostilities.
Art 112. Upon the outbreak of hostilities, Mixed Medical
Commissions shall be appointed to examine sick and wounded
prisoners of war, and to make all appropriate decisions regarding
them. The appointment, duties and functioning of these
Commissions shall be in conformity with the provisions of the
Regulations annexed to the present Convention.
However, prisoners of war who, in the opinion of the medical
authorities of the Detaining Power, are manifestly seriously
injured or seriously sick, may be repatriated without having to
be examined by a Mixed Medical Commission.
Art 113. Besides those who are designated by the medical
authorities of the Detaining Power, wounded or sick prisoners of
war belonging to the categories listed below shall be entitled to
present themselves for examination by the Mixed Medical
Commissions provided for in the foregoing Article:
(1) Wounded and sick proposed by a physician or surgeon
who is of the same nationality, or a national of a Party to
the conflict allied with the Power on which the said
prisoners depend, and who exercises his functions in the
camp.
(2) Wounded and sick proposed by their prisoners'
representative.
(3) Wounded and sick proposed by the Power on which they
depend, or by an organization duly recognized by the said
Power and giving assistance to the prisoners.
Prisoners of war who do not belong to one of the three
foregoing categories may nevertheless present themselves for
examination by Mixed Medical Commissions, but shall be examined
only after those belonging to the said categories.
The physician or surgeon of the same nationality as the
prisoners who present themselves for examination by the Mixed
Medical Commission, likewise the prisoners' representative of the
said prisoners, shall have permission to be present at the
examination.
Art 114. Prisoners of war who meet with accidents shall,
unless the injury is self-inflicted, have the benefit of the
provisions of this Convention as regards repatriation or
accommodation in a neutral country.
Art 115. No prisoner of war on whom a disciplinary punishment
has been imposed and who is eligible for repatriation or for
accommodation in a neutral country, may be kept back on the plea
that he has not undergone his punishment.
Prisoners of war detained in connection with a judicial
prosecution or conviction, and who are designated for
repatriation or accommodation in a neutral country, may benefit
by such measures before the end of the proceedings or the
completion of the punishment, if the Detaining Power consents.
Parties to the conflict shall communicate to each other the
names of those who will be detained until the end of the
proceedings or the completion of the punishment.
Art 116. The cost of repatriating prisoners of war or of
transporting them to a neutral country shall be borne, from the
frontiers of the Detaining Power, by the Power on which the said
prisoners depend.
Art 117. No repatriated person may be employed on active
military service.
Section II. Release and Repatriation of Prisoners of War at the
Close of Hostilities
Art 118. Prisoners of war shall be released and repatriated
without delay after the cessation of active hostilities.In the
absence of stipulations to the above effect in any agreement
concluded between the Parties to the conflict with a view to the
cessation of hostilities, or failing any such agreement, each of
the Detaining Powers shall itself establish and execute without
delay a plan of repatriation in conformity with the principle
laid down in the foregoing paragraph.
In either case, the measures adopted shall be brought to the
knowledge of the prisoners of war.
The costs of repatriation of prisoners of war shall in all
cases be equitably apportioned between the Detaining Power and
the Power on which the prisoners depend. This apportionment shall
be carried out on thefollowing basis:
(a) If the two Powers are contiguous, the Power on which
the prisoners of war depend shall bear the costs of
repatriation from the frontiers of the Detaining Power.
(b) If the two Powers are not contiguous, the Detaining Power
shall bear the costs of transport of prisoners of war over
its own territory as far as its frontier or its port of
embarkation nearest to the territory of the Power on which
the prisoners of war depend. The Parties concerned shall
agree between themselves as to the equitable apportionment of
the remaining costs of the repatriation. The conclusion of
this agreement shall in no circumstances justify any delay in
the repatriation of the prisoners of war.
Art 119. Repatriation shall be effected in conditions similar
to those laid down in Articles 46 to 48 inclusive of the present
Convention for the transfer of prisoners of war, having regard to
the provisions of Article 118 and to those of the following
paragraphs.
On repatriation, any articles of value impounded from
prisoners of war under Article 18, and any foreign currency which
has not been converted into the currency of the Detaining Power,
shall be restored to them. Articles of value and foreign currency
which, for any reason whatever, are not restored to prisoners of
war on repatriation, shall be despatched to the Information
Bureau set up under Article 122.
Prisoners of war shall be allowed to take with them their
personal effects, and any correspondence and parcels which have
arrived for them. The weight of such baggage may be limited, if
the conditions of repatriation so require, to what each prisoner
can reasonably carry. Each prisoner shall in all cases be
authorized to carry at least twenty-five kilograms.
The other personal effects of the repatriated prisoner shall
be left in the charge of the Detaining Power which shall have
them forwarded to him as soon as it has concluded an agreement to
this effect, regulating the conditions of transport and the
payment of the costs involved, with the Power on which the
prisoner depends.
Prisoners of war against whom criminal proceedings for an
indictable offence are pending may be detained until the end of
such proceedings, and, if necessary, until the completion of the
punishment. The same shall apply to prisoners of war already
convicted for an indictable offence.
Parties to the conflict shall communicate to each other the
names of any prisoners of war who are detained until the end of
the proceedings or until punishment has been completed.
By agreement between the Parties to the conflict, commissions
shall be established for the purpose of searching for dispersed
prisoners of war and of assuring their repatriation with the
least possible delay.
Section III. Death of Prisoners of
War
Art 120. Wills of prisoners of war shall be drawn up so as to
satisfy the conditions of validity required by the legislation of
their country of origin, which will take steps to inform the
Detaining Power of its requirements in this respect. At the
request of the prisoner of war and, in all cases, after death,
the will shall be transmitted without delay to the Protecting
Power; a certified copy shall be sent to the Central Agency.
Death certificates, in the form annexed to the present
Convention, or lists certified by a responsible officer, of all
persons who die as prisoners of war shall be forwarded as rapidly
as possible to the Prisoner of War Information Bureau established
in accordance with Article 122. The death certificates or
certified lists shall show particulars of identity as set out in
the third paragraph of Article 17, and also the date and place of
death, the cause of death, the date and place of burial and all
particulars necessary to identify the graves.
The burial or cremation of a prisoner of war shall be preceded
by a medical examination of the body with a view to confirming
death and enabling a report to be made and, where necessary,
establishing identity.
The detaining authorities shall ensure that prisoners of war
who have died in captivity are honourably buried, if possible
according to the rites of the religion to which they belonged,
and that their graves are respected, suitably maintained and
marked so as to be found at any time. Wherever possible, deceased
prisoners of war who depended on the same Power shall be interred
in the same place.
Deceased prisoners of war shall be buried in individual graves
unless unavoidable circumstances require the use of collective
graves. Bodies may be cremated only for imperative reasons of
hygiene, on account of the religion of the deceased or in
accordance with his express wish to this effect. In case of
cremation, the fact shall be stated and the reasons given in the
death certificate of the deceased.
In order that graves may always be found, all particulars of
burials and graves shall be recorded with a Graves Registration
Service established by the Detaining Power. Lists of graves and
particulars of the prisoners of war interred in cemeteries and
elsewhere shall be transmitted to the Power on which such
prisoners of war depended. Responsibility for the care of these
graves and for records of any subsequent moves of the bodies
shall rest on the Power controlling the territory, if a Party to
the present Convention. These provisions shall also apply to the
ashes, which shall be kept by the Graves Registration Service
until proper disposal thereof in accordance with the wishes of
the home country.
Art 121. Every death or serious injury of a prisoner of war
caused or suspected to have been caused by a sentry, another
prisoner of war, or any other person, as well as any death the
cause of which is unknown, shall be immediately followed by an
official enquiry by the Detaining Power.
A communication on this subject shall be sent immediately to
the Protecting Power. Statements shall be taken from witnesses,
especially from those who are prisoners of war, and a report
including such statements shall be forwarded to the Protecting
Power.
If the enquiry indicates the guilt of one or more persons, the
Detaining Power shall take all measures for the prosecution of
the person or persons responsible.
