Geneva Convention (IV)

SECTION IV

Regulations for the Treatment
of Internees

CHAPTER I

General Provisions

Art. 79. The Parties to the conflict shall not intern protected persons,
except in accordance with the provisions of Articles 41, 42, 43, 68 and 78.

Art. 80. Internees shall retain their full civil capacity and shall
exercise such attendant rights as may be compatible with their status.

Art. 81. Parties to the conflict who intern protected persons shall be
bound to provide free of charge for their maintenance, and to grant them
also the medical attention required by their state of health.

No deduction from the allowances, salaries or credits due to the internees
shall be made for the repayment of these costs.

The Detaining Power shall provide for the support of those dependent on the
internees, if such dependents are without adequate means of support or are
unable to earn a living.

Art.82. The Detaining Power shall, as far as possible, accommodate the
internees according to their nationality, language and customs. Internees
who are nationals of the same country shall not be separated merely because
they have different languages.

Throughout the duration of their internment, members of the same family,
and in particular parents and children, shall be lodged together in the
same place of internment, except when separation of a temporary nature is
necessitated for reasons of employment or health or for the purposes of
enforcement of the provisions of Chapter IX of the present Section.
Internees may request that their children who are left at liberty without
parental care shall be interned with them.

Wherever possible, interned members of the same family shall be housed in
the same premises and given separate accommodation from other internees,
together with facilities for leading a proper family life.

CHAPTER II

Places of Internment

Art. 83. The Detaining Power shall not set up places of internment in areas
particularly exposed to the dangers of war.

The Detaining Power shall give the enemy Powers, through the intermediary
of the Protecting Powers, all useful information regarding the geographical
location of places of internment.

Whenever military considerations permit, internment camps shall be
indicated by the letters IC, placed so as to be clearly visible in the
daytime from the air. The Powers concerned may, however, agree upon any
other system of marking. No place other than an internment camp shall be
marked as such.

Art.84. Internees shall be accommodated and administered separately from
prisoners of war and from persons deprived of liberty for any other reason.

Art. 85. The Detaining Power is bound to take all necessary and possible
measures to ensure that protected persons shall, from the outset of their
internment, be accommodated in buildings or quarters which afford every
possible safeguard as regards hygiene and health, and provide efficient
protection against the rigours of the climate and the effects of the war.
In no case shall permanent places of internment be situated in unhealthy
areas or in districts, the climate of which is injurious to the internees.
In all cases where the district, in which a protected person is temporarily
interned, is an unhealthy area or has a climate which is harmful to his
health, he shall be removed to a more suitable place of internment as
rapidly as circumstances permit.

The premises shall be fully protected from dampness, adequately heated and
lighted, in particular between dusk and lights out. The sleeping quarters
shall be sufficiently spacious and well ventilated, and the internees shall
have suitable bedding and sufficient blankets, account being taken of the
climate, and the age, sex, and state of health of the internees.

Internees shall have for their use, day and night, sanitary conveniences
which conform to the rules of hygiene, and are constantly maintained in a
state of cleanliness. They shall be provided with sufficient water and soap
for their daily personal toilet and for washing their personal laundry;
installations and facilities necessary for this purpose shall be granted to
them. Showers or baths shall also be available. The necessary time shall be
set aside for washing and for cleaning.

Whenever it is necessary, as an exceptional and temporary measure, to
accommodate women internees who are not members of a family unit in the
same place of internment as men, the provision of separate sleeping
quarters and sanitary conveniences for the use of such women internees
shall be obligatory.

Art. 86. The Detaining Power shall place at the disposal of interned
persons, of whatever denomination, premises suitable for the holding of
their religious services.

Art. 87. Canteens shall be installed in every place of internment, except
where other suitable facilities are available. Their purpose shall be to
enable internees to make purchases, at prices not higher than local market
prices, of foodstuffs and articles of everyday use, including soap and
tobacco, such as would increase their personal well-being and comfort.

Profits made by canteens shall be credited to a welfare fund to be set up
for each place of internment, and administered for the benefit of the
internees attached to such place of internment. The Internee Committee
provided for in Article 102 shall have the right to check the management of
the canteen and of the said fund.

When a place of internment is closed down, the balance of the welfare fund
shall be transferred to the welfare fund of a place of internment for
internees of the same nationality, or, if such a place does not exist, to a
central welfare fund which shall be administered for the benefit of all
internees remaining in the custody of the Detaining Power. In case of a
general release, the said profits shall be kept by the Detaining Power,
subject to any agreement to the contrary between the Powers concerned.

Art. 88. In all places of internment exposed to air raids and other hazards
of war, shelters adequate in number and structure to ensure the necessary
protection shall be installed. In case of alarms, the measures internees
shall be free to enter such shelters as quickly as possible, excepting
those who remain for the protection of their quarters against the aforesaid
hazards. Any protective measures taken in favour of the population shall
also apply to them.

All due precautions must be taken in places of internment against the
danger of fire.

Author: international