Protest of the Japanese Government to the British and Indian Governments in Regard to Maltreatment of Japanese Interned at New Delhi, November 11, 1942
(1) The tents in which the internees live are small and over-crowded. They offer no protection against cold during the cold season nor any comfort during the hot season. It is not rare that the temperature in the tents rises as high as 120 degrees Fahrenheit. These tents become flooded on rainy days, and not infrequently collapse during sandstorms. The Indian Government, however, has taken no adequate measures to protect the tents from these natural elements beyond such perfunctory measures as attaching sunshades to, or laying bricks in, the tents. They promised long ago to transfer the internees to permanent buildings, but they have delayed carrying out their promise on one excuse of another.
(2) As regards food, apart from the question of its quantity and the caloric contents, it is inferior in quality and lacking in variety. Owing to the insufficiency of seasoning necessary for Japanese taste, many internees have almost completely lost their appetite, and consequently fallen into a state of general exhaustion.
(3) The kitchen being ill-ventilated, and cooking apparatus imperfect, cooking has to be done on the ground. On rainy days, the leaking of rain makes it the same as cooking in the open air.
(4) There is neither a proper bath room nor a laundry, only concrete walls screening a place purporting to serve both purposes. Water is insufficient, nor is there any accommodation for hot bath.
(5) The water-closets are badly equipped and insufficient in number. They are also far from the tents and aged people and children experience difficulty in using them.
(6) The consultation room in the camp and the camp hospital are poorly equipped, their medical supply is scanty, and the treatment of patients is unkind.
The aforesaid situation causes great hardships to the internees. It is also very dangerous from a sanitary point of view, and there is no doubt that it was responsible for the prevalence of dysentery among the internees in the latter part of last July.
The Japanese Government's protest emphatically demanding adequate measures for immediate improvement of the treatment of the internees, in particular, desires that the tents should be replaced by permanent buildings as soon as possible, in view of the severity of the climate at New Delhi.