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makes it difficult to carry out the duties of the POW Representative and also may assist the POWRepresentative in gauging the wishes of other POWs. 548In mixed camps, the POW Representative’s assistants shall be chosen from among thePOWs who are not officers and shall be elected by them. 5499.24.2.2 Labor Camps With Officers Who Carry Out Camp Administration Dutiesfor POWs. Officer POWs of the same nationality shall be stationed in labor camps for POWs,for the purpose of carrying out the camp administration duties for which the POWs areresponsible. 550 These officers may be elected as POW Representatives under the first paragraphof Article 79 of the GPW. 551 In such a case, the assistants to the POW Representatives shall bechosen from among those POWs who are not officers. 5529.24.2.3 Places Without Officer POWs. In all places where there are POWs,except in those where there are officers, the POWs shall freely elect POW Representatives bysecret ballot, every six months, and also in case of vacancies. 553 These POW Representativesshall be eligible for re-election. 5549.24.2.4 Approval of Elected POW Representatives by the Detaining Power.Every elected POW Representative must be approved by the Detaining Power before he or she548 See GPW COMMENTARY 392 (“Thus it is clearly established that, like other prisoners of war, officers have aprisoners’ representative. Serious difficulties may result, however, from the fact that he is appointed according torank, particularly if his state of health makes it difficult for him to carry out the wide range of tasks incumbent onthe prisoners’ representative. The 1949 text therefore provides a possibility which did not exist in Article 43 of the1929 Convention: the officer who is the prisoners’ representative will be ‘assisted’ by one or more advisers chosenby the prisoners themselves. The intention of the authors of this new provision was that such assistants should beable to help the senior officer of the highest rank by expressing the wishes and opinions of all the prisoners.”).549 GPW art. 79 (“[I]n mixed camps, his assistants shall be chosen from among the prisoners of war who are notofficers and shall be elected by them.”).550 GPW art. 79 (“Officer prisoners of war of the same nationality shall be stationed in labour camps for prisoners ofwar, for the purpose of carrying out the camp administration duties for which the prisoners of war are responsible.”).551 GPW art. 79 (“These officers may be elected as prisoners’ representatives under the first paragraph of thisArticle.”). See also LEVIE, POWS 298 (“[E]ven though the labor detachment will, to a certain extent, be a ‘mixed’camp, the senior officer detailed to it to perform the administrative details will not automatically be the prisoners’representative, but he will be eligible for election to that office.”).552 GPW art. 79 (“In such a case the assistants to the prisoners’ representatives shall be chosen from among thoseprisoners of war who are not officers.”).553 GPW art. 79 (“In all places where there are prisoners of war, except in those where there are officers, theprisoners shall freely elect by secret ballot, every six months, and also in case of vacancies, prisoners'representatives entrusted with representing them before the military authorities, the Protecting Powers, theInternational Committee of the Red Cross and any other organization which may assist them.”). See also GPWCOMMENTARY 390 (“In view of the general wording of the phrase ‘in all places where there are prisoners of war’,there is no need to wait until they are actually in a camp. If circumstances permit, prisoners of war will be able toappoint a prisoners' representative in transit camps. The general wording of the provision therefore enablesprisoners’ representatives to be elected not only in the main camps which are usually situated on the outskirts ofbuilt-up areas, but also in labour detachments.”).554 GPW art. 79 (“These prisoners’ representatives shall be eligible for re-election.”).586