In
all places where there are prisoners of war, except in those where
there are officers, the prisoners shall freely elect by secret
ballot, every six months, and also in case of vacancies, prisoners'
representatives entrusted with representing them before the military
authorities, the Protecting Powers, the International Committee
of the Red Cross and any other organization which may assist them.
These prisoners'
representatives shall be eligible for re-election.
In camps
for officers and persons of equivalent status or in mixed camps,
the senior officer among the prisoners of war shall be recognized
as the camp prisoners' representative. In camps for officers, he
shall be assisted by one or more advisers chosen by the officers;
in mixed camps, his assistants shall be chosen from among the prisoners
of war who are not officers and shall be elected by them.
Officer
prisoners of war of the same nationality shall be stationed in
labour camps for prisoners of war, for the purpose of carrying
out the camp administration duties for which the prisoners of war
are responsible. These officers may be elected as prisoners' representatives
under the first paragraph of this Article. In such a case the assistants
to the prisoners' representatives shall be chosen from among those
prisoners of war who are not officers.
Every
representative elected must be approved by the Detaining Power
before he has the right to commence his duties. Where the Detaining
Power refuses to approve a prisoner of war elected by his fellow
prisoners of war, it must inform the Protecting Power of the reason
for such refusal.
In all
cases the prisoners' representative must have the same nationality,
language and customs as the prisoners of war whom he represents.
Thus, prisoners of war distributed in different sections of a camp,
according to their nationality, language or customs, shall have
for each section their own prisoners' representative, in accordance
with the foregoing paragraphs.
