Switzerland cancels States’ Conference on International Humanitarian Law in Palestine at the last minute

The Conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions on International Humanitarian Law (IHL) was convened by Switzerland, the conventions’ depositary State, for March 7th 2025. State parties were to discuss violations of humanitarian law in the context of Israel’s genocide in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, to reaffirm and defend IHL. The foreign ministry of Switzerland announced its cancellation today, March 6th, on the eve of the Conference, to which 196 State Parties had been invited.

Convening the Conference of High Contracting Parties is a duty for the depositary State of the Geneva Conventions, Switzerland, when severe violations thereof are at stake. The UN General Assembly additionally explicitly mandated the helvetic State to convene the conference in a resolution it issued last September 2024. The aim of the conference is to assess violations of IHL and issue a joint declaration listing concerned parties’ obligations to uphold its norms in concrete cases. This is the fourth Conference convened by Switzerland to discuss violations of IHL by Israel in the Palestinian territories it occupies (1999, 2001, 2014).

Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories since 1967 is illegal under international law and the Geneva Conventions, and its treatment of the Palestinian population it occupies violates international law and its specific duties under IHL. Further, it systematically violates the basic human rights of the Palestinian population - in the occupied territories as well as in historic Palestine - and commits war crimes against them. The Geneva Conventions on IHL and the protection of civilians in war aims to prohibit and punish war crimes: convening a conference at this time, with Israel’s genocide on Palestinians having drastically escalated since 2023, is imperative to uphold the conventions and the principles of International Humanitarian Law.

Switzerland’s last-minute cancellation of the conference raises serious questions about its role on the international stage and its diplomatic significance. According to Reuters and other sources, many State parties found the groundwork for the conference to be insufficient: the draft declaration that had been elaborated through consultation with States lacked in substance. Its language failed to convey the urgency of the violations committed by Israel and the need for concrete action to stop and punish its war crimes, namely: sanctions and diplomatic, economic and political consequences first and foremost. Further, State parties have been well informed of the necessary steps for them to take towards Israel in the face of its war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people. Be it through the UN Security Council and its binding resolutions, detailed resolutions passed by the Human Rights Council, orders by the World Court ICJ and arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court: international law is clear, Israel must be stopped, sanctioned, and held accountable. States have failed to heed these calls.

It is therefore not surprising that the Palestinian State authorities deemed the prepared declaration to be insufficient and redundant, stating not much more than the Parties’ evident duties to uphold principles of IHL. Statements are not needed, actions are required - urgently. Allied States such as Arab nations or the OIC, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, are aligned with this position.

The Swiss foreign ministry failed to obtain satisfactory commitments from the Conventions’ High Contracting Parties and to express clearly the severity of Israel’s ongoing, systematic disdain for the international legal order and human life in its work preparing the meeting and its resulting statement. The State of Israel has not shown itself willing to face accountability and admit its crimes, while its accomplices remain silent on the same.

Swiss diplomacy, once reputable, stops short of fulfilling its mandate ahead of this deadlock. Who will step up to uphold the laws of war remains to be seen, while states speak incessantly but fail to act.