Press Releases
The Conference of the High Contracting Parties (HCP) to the Geneva Conventions, scheduled to take place on 7 March 2025 in Geneva and tasked by the UN General Assembly to 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” was canceled. This cancellation is a result of Israeli and Western states' pressure to impose a weak Declaration, and constitutes another failure to uphold international law. As Israel once again blocks the entry of all humanitarian aid to Gaza, and is forcibly displacing thousands of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, this cancellation sheds further light on Western states’ complicity in shielding the Israeli regime from accountability measures for its crimes.
Officially cancelled for lack of participation and consensus on the draft statement among the 196 invited states, Israel and the US announced their refusal to participate a week before the conference, accusing it to be “another platform to attack Israel”. However, the true cause of its cancellation lies in Israel’s intensive lobbying efforts against the conference, as its Foreign Ministry openly declared the cancellation a “significant diplomatic achievement,” acknowledging that Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar worked “intensively […] under the radar” to ensure the event did not take place. Western states' refusal to participate, either out of alignment with Israeli interests or reluctance to take a stance, further underscores their complicity. European states’ inaction contradicts their professed commitment to a rule-based international order, a principle they readily invoke in other contexts, such as Ukraine.
The cancellation of the conference not only undermines the credibility of international legal mechanisms and disregards the HCP’s obligations under Common Article 1, it is also a missed opportunity to address the problematic aspects of the draft Declaration. Indeed, the draft Declaration, which was written under the influence of colonial states and ultimately failed to garner consensus, was condemned by Arab and Islamic states for its failure to adequately “fulfil the agreed mandate” and “reflect the gravity of Israel’s crimes against Palestinians”. Instead, it used general language, did not name Israeli crimes, and failed to contextualize the actions of the Palestinian resistance within the framework of the peoples’ right to struggle against colonial domination, in the exercise of their right of self-determination. In an attempt to equalize Palestinian resistance with the colonial power’s crimes, the draft Declaration completely ignored the legal recognition of armed struggle against colonial domination under Article 1(4) of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, and reaffirmed by several UNGA resolutions and international law documents.
In light of ongoing grave breaches, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by the Israeli regime across the oPt, the conference’s purpose was to reaffirm the universal applicability of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), and to ensure respect for the Fourth Geneva Convention in the oPt. The failure to convene this conference not only emboldens continued violations but also erodes the credibility of international legal mechanisms meant to protect civilians in times of conflict. The duty of third states to “ensure respect” for the Geneva Conventions under Common Article 1 is not optional—it is a legal obligation. States must move beyond symbolic gestures and take concrete measures, including suspending arms transfers to Israel, supporting investigations by the International Criminal Court and the UN Commission of Inquiry, and imposing meaningful sanctions.
Cancelling the HCP’s Conference weakens the Geneva Conventions as a cornerstone of IHL, and is another instance where political manoeuvring fuels the longstanding failure of the international community to uphold international law in Palestine.