Draft regulations concerning collective relief
The Internee Committees shall be allowed to
distribute collective relief shipments for which they are responsible. to all
internees who are dependent for administration on the said Committee's place of
internment, including those internees who are in hospitals, or in prisons or
other penitentiary establishments.
The distribution of collective relief shipments
shall be effected in accordance with the instructions of the donors and with a
plan drawn up by the Internee Committees. The issue of medical stores shall,
however, be made for preference in agreement with the senior medical officers,
and the latter may, in hospitals and infirmaries, waive the said instructions,
if the needs of their patients so demand. Within the limits thus defined, the
distribution shall always be carried out equitably.
Members of Internee Committees shall be allowed to
go to the railway stations or other points of arrival of relief supplies near
their places of internment so as to enable them to verify the quantity as well
as the quality of the goods received and to make out detailed reports thereon
for the donors.
Internee Committees shall be given the facilities
necessary for verifying whether the distribution of collective relief in all
subdivisions and annexes of their places of internment has been carried out in
accordance with their instructions.
Internee Committees shall be allowed to complete,
and to cause to be completed by members of the Internee Committees in labour
detachments or by the senior medical officers of infirmaries and hospitals,
forms or questionnaires intended for the donors, relating to collective relief
supplies (distribution, requirements, quantities, etc.). Such forms and
questionnaires, duly completed, shall be forwarded to the donors without
delay.
In order to secure the regular distribution of
collective relief supplies to the internees in their place of internment, and to
meet any needs that may arise through the arrival of fresh parties of internees,
the Internee Committees shall be allowed to create and maintain sufficient
reserve stocks of collective relief. For this purpose, they shall have suitable
warehouses at their disposal; each warehouse shall be provided with two locks,
the Internee Committee holding the keys of one lock, and the commandant of the
place of internment the keys of the other.
The High Contracting Parties, and the Detaining
Powers in particular, shall, so far as is in any way possible and subject to the
regulations governing the food supply of the population, authorize purchases of
goods to be made in their territories for the distribution of collective relief
to the internees. They shall likewise facilitate the transfer of funds and other
financial measures of a technical or administrative nature taken for the purpose
of making such purchases.
The foregoing provisions shall not constitute an
obstacle to the right of internees to receive collective relief before their
arrival in a place of internment or in the course of their transfer, nor to the
possibility of representatives of the Protecting Power, or of the International
Committee of the Red Cross or any other humanitarian organization giving
assistance to internees and responsible for forwarding such supplies, ensuring
the distribution thereof to the recipients by any other means they may deem
suitable.