- Doctors and Red Cross personnel are not Ps. O.W. and should not be treated as such. (Geneva Convention 1907, part 9.)
- Prisoners should be treated humanely (Annex to the Hague Convention, 1907, Act 4.)
- Work should not be excessive (Annex to Hague Convention, 1907, Act 6.)
- Prisoners should be treated as regards rations, quarters and clothing, on the same footing as troops of the Government which captures them, (Annex to Hague Convention 1907, Act 6.)
- Note One: All the above articles were broken by the Japs in Thailand.
Note Two: As regards rations it is not enough to fix a scale of rations. The essential is that the ration should reach the prisoners. It is suggested that the M.Ps. undertake the duty of seeing the scale of issue allowed does in fact reach the prisoners.
Note Three: As regards quarters it should be remembered that Officer prisoners pay for their quarters.
Note Four: Officers must not be employed for labour. This equally applies to being threatened with labour (Annex to Hague Convention, Act 6.). There were not many instances of officers being made to work, but it was known to all of us that hundreds of Officers in other parties were forced to work as labourers in road and rail construction. This treatment of Officers who are Ps. O.W. is without precedence in the whole history of modern warfare, besides being a direct breach of the Hague Convention. It will not be forgotten for a hundred years.
Note Five: Red Cross representatives should be allowed to visit O.O.W. camps (Annex to Hague Convention 1907 Article 60). No representatives were allowed to visit us in Thailand.
Note Six: Proper arrangements should be made to collect deceased person’s effects (Annex to Hague Convention, Article 14). This has not been done, and many effects have as a result been lost.
Note Seven: Soldiers should be respected and taken care of when sick (Geneva Convention 1906. Act 1). This was often broken in Thailand when sick men were forced to go to work.
Note Eight: Games, Entertainment, Reading, Educational Classes and Lectures should be encouraged to keep up morale.
Note Nine: Arrangement for letters and mail to and from home should be improved. Letters arriving are a year old, and we have not been allowed to write a single letter home, but only a few words on a postcard twice in two years. Ps. O.W. in all belligerent countries are allowed to write as follows:- Officers - 2 letters and two postcards each month: O.Rs. - one letter and one postcard each month.
(Sgd) Col. Dillon.
