Prisoners of war shall be allowed to send and
receive letters and
cards. If the
Detaining Power deems it necessary to
limit the
number of
letters and
cards sent by each
prisoner of war, the said
number shall not be less than two
letters and four
cards monthly,
exclusive of the
capture cards provided for in Article
70, and conforming as closely as possible to the
models annexed to the present
Convention. Further
limitations may be imposed only if the
Protecting Power is satisfied that it would be in the
interests of the
prisoners of war concerned to do so owing to difficulties of
translation caused by the
Detaining Power's inability to
find sufficient qualified
linguists to carry out the necessary
censorship. If
limitations must be placed on the
correspondence addressed to
prisoners of war, they may be ordered only by the
Power on which the
prisoners depend, possibly at the
request of the
Detaining Power. Such
letters and
cards must be conveyed by the most rapid
method at the
disposal of the
Detaining Power; they may not be delayed or retained for
disciplinary reasons.
Prisoners of war who have been without
news for a long
period, or who are
unable to
receive news from their
next of kin or to give them
news by the
ordinary postal route, as well as those who are at a
great distance from their homes, shall be permitted to send
telegrams, the
fees being charged against the
prisoners of war's
accounts with the
Detaining Power or
paid in the
currency at their
disposal. They shall likewise
benefit by this
measure in
cases of
urgency.
Sacks containing
prisoner of war mail must be securely
sealed and
labelled so as clearly to indicate their contents, and must be addressed to
offices of destination.