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FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
The text of the present Convention and the texts of special
agreements concluded under the said Convention shall be posted
inside the place of internment, in a language which the internees
understand, or shall be in the possession of the Internee Committee.
Regulations, orders, notices and publications of every kind shall
be communicated to the internees and posted inside the places of
internment, in a language which they understand.
Every order and command addressed to internees individually
must likewise be given in a language which they understand.
General
discipline
ART. 100. — The disciplinary regime in places of internment
shall be consistent with humanitarian principles, and shall in no
circumstances include regulations imposing on internees any
physical exertion dangerous to their health or involving physical or
moral victimization. Identification by tattooing or imprinting signs
or markings on the body, is prohibited.
In particular, prolonged standing and roll-calls, punishment
drill, military drill and manœuvres, or the reduction of food
rations, are prohibited.
Complaints
and petitions
ART. 101. — Internees shall have the right to present to the
authorities in whose power they are, any petition with regard to the
conditions of internment to which they are subjected.
They shall also have the right to apply without restriction
through the Internee Committee or, if they consider it necessary,
direct to the representatives of the Protecting Power, in order to
indicate to them any points on which they may have complaints to
make with regard to the conditions of internment.
Such petitions and complaints shall be transmitted forthwith and
without alteration, and even if the latter are recognized to be
unfounded, they may not occasion any punishment.
Periodic reports on the situation in places of internment and as
to the needs of the internees may be sent by the Internee
Committees to the representatives of the Protecting Powers.
Internee
Committees
ART. 102. — In every place of internment, the internees shall
freely elect by secret ballot every six months, the members of a
Committee empowered to represent them before the Detaining and
the Protecting Powers, the International Committee of the Red
Cross and any other organization which may assist them. The
members of the Committee shall be eligible for re-election.
Internees so elected shall enter upon their duties after their
election has been approved by the detaining authorities. The
reasons for any refusals or dismissals shall be communicated to the
Protecting Powers concerned.
I.
Election of
members