740.00114 European War 1939/1916: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in the Soviet Union (Thurston)
1271. Your 1977, November 26, 11 a.m. Department is pleased to note that there appears in the final paragraph of your report ground to hope that means may eventually be found of obtaining the mutual application to Soviet prisoners of war in Germany and to German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union of a regime which not only would be substantially identical with that provided for by the Geneva Convention but would include the guarantee established in Article 86 of that Convention for the effective application of its terms, namely the periodical inspection of the camps by the representatives of the protecting powers. The Department would, in particular, be pleased to receive some idea of the revision of phraseology of Article 9 of the Convention which might be acceptable to the Soviet Government in [Page 1018] order that this phraseology may be presented for consideration to the other interested belligerents.
The Department agrees with the point made in the Soviet note that the lack of obligation upon the German Government to apply to Soviet prisoners the provisions of the Geneva Convention does not absolve that Government of the obligation to apply those provisions to prisoners taken from the armed forces of belligerents which are parties to the Convention. The Department’s anxiety in this situation arises not from what may be the obligation of the German Government but from the fear that the non-application of a well-defined humanitarian regime to some prisoner would inevitably entail a deterioration in the treatment of others irrespective of any technical question of legal obligations.
While it is true, as pointed out in the third paragraph of the Soviet note that the more basic provisions of the Fourth Hague Convention regarding prisoners of war have been included in the Geneva Convention, the Department would like to point out that the Geneva Convention was drawn up precisely because the prisoner of war provisions of the Hague Convention were not sufficiently detailed and had been found in practice not to cover all the principles which should be followed if prisoners of war are to be given treatment satisfactory to both opposing sides in any conflict. The Department regards as of primary importance in the Geneva Convention Article 86 providing for the inspection of prisoner of war camps since it is only through such inspection by representatives of the protecting powers that the opposing belligerents can be satisfied that the prisoners taken from their forces are receiving suitable treatment. It has proven possible as a result of such inspection and informal negotiations based thereon to remove and even prevent misunderstandings concerning the terms and application of the Convention thereby reducing friction between belligerents which might otherwise have resulted in needless retaliation against those persons who are so unfortunate as to have become prisoners of war and are, therefore, unable to help themselves against retaliation.
Please communicate with the Soviet authorities in the sense of the foregoing paragraphs pointing out that, without the inspection of prisoner of war camps by the protecting power, there exists no means whereby the respective belligerents may receive satisfactory assurance that any specified regime for prisoners of war, whether of the Hague Convention or of the Geneva Convention or of some other agreement, is being carried out in good faith.