Following the July 2024 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, which concluded that Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is illegal, that Israel’s conduct is characterised by Grave Breaches of the Fourth Geneva Conventions, and that all States have legal obligations to bring the unlawful occupation to an end, the UN General Assembly requested that Switzerland convene a Conference of High Contracting Parties on the observance of the Fourth Geneva Convention in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.
The purpose of the Conference had been to reaffirm the rules of international humanitarian law and the obligations of the High Contracting Parties (HCPs), with the UN General Assembly specifically calling on Switzerland, in its capacity as the depositary of the Geneva Conventions, to convene the Conference by March 2025 with the focus ‘on measures to enforce the Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and to ensure respect thereof in accordance with common article 1 of the four Geneva Conventions.’
While Switzerland initially announced that the Conference would take place in Geneva on 7 March 2025, on 6 March 2025 Switzerland confirmed that the conference would not take place, reporting that: ‘Profound differences between the high contracting parties to the Geneva Conventions emerged during an extensive consultation process. Switzerland, as the depositary state, therefore concluded that a significant number of the high contracting parties did not support such a conference, and has decided against holding one.’
In the run up to the planned Conference, Al-Haq issued a Briefing Paper, observing that previous iterations of the Conference, in 1999, 2001, and 2014, had manifestly failed to focus on the necessity for ensuring enforcement of the Convention, failed to prioritise individual accountability for the perpetration of Grave Breaches, failed to sanction Israel for its inherently unlawful conduct across the occupied Palestinian territory, and failed to establish a Follow-Up Mechanism which could ensure the outcome of the Conferences constitute more than mere platitudes.
Where previous iterations of the Conference expressed ‘concern’ as to ongoing perpetration of Grave Breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention, calling for ‘good faith’ interpretation and application of international humanitarian law, the systematic violence of Israel’s unlawful occupation, continuously escalating, has long passed the threshold where words of concern can be deemed an adequate response, or where ‘good faith’ can be expected from Israel.
The failure to convene a Conference as mandated by the General Assembly evidences the continuing and alarming undermining of the Geneva Conventions as a basis for ensuring the protection of Palestinians struggling to survive under the unlawful, racist, and genocidal Israeli occupation. It accentuates the warning of UN experts, who, when calling for compliance with the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion, stressed that ‘irresponsible inaction’ threatens to jeopardise ‘the entire edifice of international law and rule of law in world affairs.’
While Israel welcomed the cancellation of the Conference, Palestine’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva confirmed that Palestine would not be participating in the event, as the draft Declaration, the planned outcome document of the Conference, did not include adequate measures for ensuring enforcement of the Geneva Convention. In light of the present impasse, it remains imperative that states do not fail, individually and collectively, to strive to uphold the fundamental tenets of the Geneva Conventions, to abide by the conclusions of the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion, and to implement and enforce immediate and robust sanctions against Israel as detailed by the UN General Assembly Resolution ES-10/24 (19 September 2024)