Chapter II: On Prisoners of War

ARTICLE IV.
Prisoners of war are in the power of the hostile Government,
but not in that of the individuals or corps who captured them.
They must be humanely treated. All their personal belongings,
except arms, horses, and military papers remain their
property.

ARTICLE V.
Prisoners of war may be interned in a town, fortress, camp, or
any other locality, and bound not to go beyond certain fixed
limits; but they can only be confined as an indispensable
measure of safety.

ARTICLE VI.
The State may utilize the labour of prisoners of war according
to their rank and aptitude. Their tasks shall not be
excessive, and shall have nothing to do with the military
operations. Prisoners may be authorized to work for the Public
Service, for private persons, or on their own account. Work
done for the State shall be paid for according to the tariffs
in force for soldiers of the national army employed on similar
tasks. When the work is for other branches of the Public
Service or for private persons, the conditions shall be
settled in agreement with the military authorities. The wages
of the prisoners shall go towards improving their position,
and the balance shall be paid them at the time of their
release, after deducting the cost of their maintenance.

ARTICLE VII.
The Government into whose hands prisoners of war have fallen
is bound to maintain them. Failing a special agreement between
the belligerents, prisoners of war shall be treated as regards
food, quarters, and clothing, on the same footing as the
troops of the Government which has captured them.

ARTICLE VIII.
Prisoners of war shall be subject to the laws, regulations,
and orders in force in the army of the State into whose hands
they have fallen. Any act of insubordination warrants the
adoption, as regards them, of such measures of severity as may
be necessary. Escaped prisoners, recaptured before they have
succeeded in rejoining their army, or before quitting the
territory occupied by the army that captured them, are liable
to disciplinary punishment. Prisoners who, after succeeding in
escaping, are again taken prisoners, are not liable to any
punishment for the previous flight.

ARTICLE IX.
Every prisoner of war, if questioned, is bound to declare his
true name and rank, and if he disregards this rule, he is
liable to a curtailment of the advantages accorded to the
prisoners of war of his class.

ARTICLE X.
Prisoners of war may be set at liberty on parole if the laws
of their country authorize it, and, in such a case, they are
bound, on their personal honour, scrupulously to fulfil, both
as regards their own Government and the Government by whom
they were made prisoners, the engagements they have
contracted. In such cases, their own Government shall not
require of nor accept from them any service incompatible with
the parole given.

ARTICLE XI.
A prisoner of war cannot be forced to accept his liberty on
parole; similarly the hostile Government is not obliged to
assent to the prisoner's request to be set at liberty on
parole.

ARTICLE XII.
Any prisoner of war, who is liberated on parole and
recaptured, bearing arms against the Government to whom he had
pledged his honour, or against the allies of that Government,
forfeits his right to be treated as a prisoner of war, and can
be brought before the Courts.

ARTICLE XIII.
Individuals who follow an army without directly belonging to
it, such as newspaper correspondents and reporters, sutlers,
contractors, who fall into the enemy's hands, and whom the
latter think fit to detain, have a right to be treated as
prisoners of war, provided they can produce a certificate from
the military authorities of the army they were accompanying.

ARTICLE XIV.
A Bureau for information relative to prisoners of war is
instituted, on the commencement of hostilities, in each of the
belligerent States and, when necessary, in the neutral
countries on whose territory belligerents have been received.
This Bureau is intended to answer all inquiries about
prisoners of war, and is furnished by the various services
concerned with all the necessary information to enable it to
keep an individual return for each prisoner of war. It is kept
informed of internments and changes, as well as of admissions
into hospital and deaths. It is also the duty of the
Information Bureau to receive and collect all objects of
personal use, valuables, letters, &c., found on the
battlefields or left by prisoners who have died in hospital or
ambulance, and to transmit them to those interested.

ARTICLE XV.
Relief Societies for prisoners of war, which are regularly
constituted in accordance with the law of the country with the
object of serving as the intermediary for charity, shall
receive from the belligerents for themselves and their duly
accredited agents every facility, within the bounds of
military requirements and Administrative Regulations, for the
effective accomplishment of their humane task. Delegates of
these Societies may be admitted to the places of internment
for the distribution of relief, as also to the halting places
of repatriated prisoners, if furnished with a personal permit
by the military authorities, and on giving an engagement in
writing to comply with all their Regulations for order and
police.

ARTICLE XVI.
The Information Bureau shall have the privilege of free
postage. Letters, money orders, and valuables, as well as
postal parcels destined for the prisoners of war or despatched
by them, shall be free of all postal duties, both in the
countries of origin and destination, as well as in those they
pass through. Gifts and relief in kind for prisoners of war
shall be admitted free of all duties of entry and others, as
well as of payments for carriage by the Government rail ways.

ARTICLE XVII.
Officers taken prisoners may receive, if necessary, the full
pay allowed them in this position by their country's
regulations, the amount to be repaid by their Government.

ARTICLE XVIII.
Prisoners of war shall enjoy every latitude in the exercise of
their religion, including attendance at their own church
services, provided only they comply with the regulations for
order and police issued by the military authorities.

ARTICLE XIX.
The wills of prisoners of war are received or drawn up on the
same conditions as for soldiers of the national army. The same
rules shall be observed regarding death certificates, as well as
for the burial of prisoners of war, due regard being paid to
their grade and rank.

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ARTICLE XX.
After the conclusion of peace, the repatriation of prisoners
of war shall take place as speedily as possible.

CHAPTER III.
On the Sick and Wounded.

ARTICLE XXI.
The obligations of belligerents with regard to the sick and
wounded are governed by the Geneva Convention of the 22d
August, 1864, subject to any modifications which may be
introduced into it.