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Commentary - Art. 105. Part III : Status and treatment of protected persons #Section IV : Regulations for the treatment of internees #Chapter VIII : Relations with the exterior
    ARTICLE 105. -- NOTIFICATION OF THE MEASURES TAKEN


    The 1929 Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War merely stated (Article 35 ) that the belligerents "shall publish" measures concerning the relations of prisoners with the exterior. The experience of the First World War had led the International Committee of the Red Cross to suggest a more exact wording on this point. The Committee had indeed received a great number of requests for information and complaints from public authorities and from private individuals insufficiently well informed of the measures taken to transmit mail to prisoners of war.
    To avoid further uncertainties arising, the Committee put forward a text very similar to that of this Article in terms which are almost identical for prisoners of war and civilian internees.
    The text referring to civilians was adopted with little discussion. It contains an amendment to the draft of the International Committee of the Red Cross. This amendment, put forward by the World Jewish Congress, adds that the Protecting Power must be notified, in order to protect persons who are out of touch with their [p.446] country of origin and have become stateless or are of doubtful nationality.
    The measures taken will be notified to the internees themselves by posting notices in accordance with paragraph 3 of Article 99 . The country of origin and the Protecting Power will be notified once only, unless any amendments to the regulations are made later; these must be duly notified immediately and in the same form.