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Commentary - Art. 45. Part III : Captivity #Section II : Internment of prisoners of war #Chapter VII : Rank of prisoners of war
    ARTICLE 45. -- TREATMENT OF OTHER PRISONERS


    This provision is new. It was introduced at the 1949 Diplomatic Conference after one delegation pointed out that, with the exception of orderlies, Article 44 dealt only with officers and prisoners of war with equivalent status (1).
    What we have said in connection with paragraphs 1 and 3 of Article 44 therefore applies also, ' mutatis mutandis, ' to the present Article, which uses the same basic text. During the discussion it was suggested that the scope of the provision might be limited to noncommissioned officers, but one delegation then pointed out that in the navy, for instance, sailors could be of different grades without being non-commissioned officers (2). The Conference therefore approved a more general wording.
    As regards supervision of the mess ("gestion" in the French text), the comments on Article 44 are applicable here also.


    * (1) [(2) p.252] See ' Final Record of the Diplomatic
    Conference of Geneva of 1949, ' Vol. II-A, pp. 267-268;

    (2) [(3) p.252] Ibid., p. 359;