. NMT05-T1046
Volume VI · Page 1046
| the Tribunal is familiar with the opinion of the defense that many
regulations of this convention have become obsolete because of the developments
of the last 20 years. I will, however, for the sake of the prosecution, presume
that we are living in the year 1907 and on this basis view the Hague Land
Warfare Convention. There you will look in vain for a regulation which forbids
the compulsory service of workers outside of the occupied territory.
The indictment is based on two provisions, one of which has no connection at all and the other one only a very limited connection with this question, that is, with Articles 46 and 52. Article 46 of the Hague Land Warfare Convention states:¹ |
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"Family honour and rights, the lives of persons, and private property, as well as religious convictions and practice, must be respected. * * *" |
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| I can see no connection whatsoever between this regulation and the conscription of labor. Article 52 says:² | |
"Requisitions in kind and services shall not be demanded from municipalities or inhabitants except for the needs of the army of occupation. They shall be in proportion to the resources of the country, and of such a nature as not to involve the inhabitants in the obligation of taking part in military operations against their own country." |
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| Two restrictions result from this regulation for the compulsory
demand of services: first, only for the needs of the occupation army; and
second, no participation in military operations. What is not shown by this article is a veto against employing these workers outside the occupied territory. On the contrary, if it is practical for the belligerent nation to have work for the requirements of the occupation army performed in its home country, there is nothing in Article 52 which opposes the compulsory use of workers from the occupied territory for this purpose. This interpretation I base on the aforementioned principle, that exceptions to the unrestricted use of violence in war must be clearly formulated and proved by those who refer to them. On the basis of the accusation, that is, of the Hague Land Warfare Convention as drawn up in 1907, there are however a number of other possibilities which justify the deportation of workers to a place outside of the occupied territory. This applies first of all to the evacuation for military reasons of that part of the population capable of bearing arms. This point of view was already of importance during the First World War, when — as is well known — Belgian workers were sent to Germany. De Watteville, an English |
¹ "Treaties Governing Land Warfare," War Department TM 27-251 (United States GPO. Washington 1944), page 31.
² Ibid., page 33.
