1. 30th November, 1942 So, I thought I’d write a journal about the goings-on as a prisoner of war. I have been extremely privileged to stumble upon some paper, and it is highly unlikely that I will be able to get this letter to anyone, given the security of the Japanese guards. Firstly, I was captured as part of the Australian A-Force (which is largely made up from the Australian 22nd Brigade), from Singapore on May the 15th, 1942. We were in Changi, which is in Singapore, when we were captured (as I awoke) and sent off to Burma. There were 3,000 other men under Brigadier Varley at the time. We arrived in Burma, very scared and very unsure of what was to come. Other forces have arrived since, but we were the first. Anyway, as we arrived, we ere…
The Treatment of Prisoners of War Since the beginning of the human era, many problems were solved through the use of violence - or more specifically, war. In every war, soldiers, medics, spies and many others are captured and are forced to live in conditions that may either be worse than what is found in a common prison or better than what a civilian may have. They may be forced to work/ add sufficient manpower to help boost weaponry production or help boost the economy in the country that…
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person, whether combatant or non-combatant, who is held in custody by the opponent during or immediately after an armed conflict. There were a total of 22,000 Australians that became prisoners of war of the Japanese in south-east Asia, only a total of 14.000 had survived. Captured prisoners of war were treated poorly by captors, but the treatment improved as the years passed, though it never met Geneva Convention standards. Camps were rife with diseases caused by…
I am going to be presenting about prisoners of war, specifically what constitutes a POW and what can and can’t happen to them under the Geneva Convention. I will only be talking about Article 13, the treatment of POW’s, Article 26, the food rations, and labour and article 53 about the legal and moral purpose of this issue and its strategic/security importance. Throughout, there will be many references to ICRC, which is the International committee of the Red Cross. Firstly, we need to define…
The Geneva Convention was created to protect the rights of prisoners of war after World War 1. Its official name is the Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. The Geneva Convention was signed on the 27th of July 1929 in Geneva, Switzerland. The Convention was created by the Red Cross as after the First World War as they found The Hague Conventions, which had been signed pre-war had failed due to many loopholes and lack of precision. 47 countries signed the Convention those…
"The Prisoners of War,” a relatively short poem by Tom Disch, written in 1972, is riddled with imagery and deeper meaning. Even in the opening line, Disch cuts to the point. “Their language disappeared a year or so after the landscape: so what can they do now but point?” (line 1-3). Here it does not take much to get an interpretation. He is saying that our society has lost something. We have lost our “language,” meaning our ability to have intimate face-to- face conversations. That…
THE TREATMENT OF PRISONERS OF WAR UNDER THE INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS REGIME: IS IT REALLY EFFICACIOUS OR IS IT TIME FOR RETOOLING? “Wars, undertaken to maintain national honor, should be conducted upon the principles of moderation” – Hugo Grotius The history pertaining to the prisoner of war is as old as the history of warfare and throughout the course of such history we have always worshipped the victor and the loser is often erased from our memories. As the search for legal protection…
Prisoners of War In The United States During World War II During World War II, many prisoners were captured and sent away to POW camps. These prisoners were sent all over the world. There were many different types of POWs imprisoned in the United States during World War II. When the United States heard they were going to receive Axis POWs, they had to prepare a suitable place for the POWs to stay and work. The government converted army bases into camps. Fort McClellan was built by the War…
The Prisoners of War were placed in hundreds of camps in towns all across the America. The prisoners had their own unique experience. Some of the Prisoners enjoyed their time in America. However, There were other prisoners who did not enjoy their time in America they were waiting for the day to come when they could return home to their families. During the wars in the United States, the prisoners who got sent to jail was treated differently by the gender. In other countries prisoners of…
what the Prisoner of War was like. The harsh living environment can be seen through the three individuals presented within this image. Their uncleaned clothing and thin skeleton structure implies that they suffer from malnutrition and live in an unhygienic area. Hence, this image demonstrates the harsh conditions the individuals suffered in the Prisoners of War. The intended…