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North Africa (Political Internees)

Volume 387: debated on Wednesday 24 March 1943

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asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what steps have been taken to improve the conditions of the camps in North Africa in which political prisoners and International Brigadiers are interned; and whether he has recently received any report about these camps?

One of the duties of the Joint Commission set up to investigate the position of political internees in North Africa is to ensure that such internees are housed, pending their release, in as good living conditions as possible. As my Noble Friend the Lord Privy Seal stated in another place on 17th March, representatives of the Commission recently visited four of the most important internment camps where over 1,200 men are living. They reported favourably on the conditions at these camps and ascertained that a large majority of the men held there were allowed to reside freely in the districts where they were employed and enjoyed considerable liberty of movement. Representatives of the Commission hope to visit other camps in the near future.