Will Geneva Conventions Conference Be Cancelled?

By Ayman Okeil
The United Nations General Assembly, in accordance with the resolution outlined in document A/ES-10/L.31/Rev.1, has tasked the Swiss Confederation with organizing a conference involving 196 countries, the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions. This conference is scheduled to take place in March 2025. Switzerland was selected as the host country because it serves as the depositary state of the Geneva Conventions. The city of Geneva will host this conference, in line with paragraph 12 of the preceding resolution, which called for discussions on necessary measures to implement the Geneva Conventions in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, while ensuring respect for these conventions as stipulated in the common article of the four Geneva Conventions.
However, I foresee two significant challenges facing the conference. The first issue is the potential lack of binding outcomes, and it remains uncertain whether civil society will be included or if participation will be confined to the diplomatic representatives of the contracting states. The second challenge pertains to the possibility of the conference being cancelled due to pressures that the Trump administration may exert on the Swiss government. I hope that Switzerland will resist such pressures, particularly as the conference coincides with the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, which are fundamental to international humanitarian law and aim to protect individuals affected by armed conflicts, both international and non-international. Three similar conferences have previously been held in Switzerland, the most recent occurring in Geneva in 2014, following meetings in 1999 and 2001. Notably, Israel and the United States did not attend the 2014 conference.
Israel has historically attempted to prevent Switzerland from organizing these events, but has not succeeded. During the 1999 conference, proceedings were postponed indefinitely just forty minutes after opening. The upcoming March 2025 conference will take place shortly after Donald Trump, the President-elect, officially assumes office on January 20, 2025. Consequently, it is likely that the Trump administration may exert increased pressure on Switzerland to either cancel the conference or dilute its substantive content, especially following Trump’s threats to escalate tensions in the Middle East if hostages held by Palestinian factions in Gaza are not released.
Thus, the possibility of cancelling the conference remains if Switzerland yields to American and Israeli pressures. In my view, such a cancellation would represent a setback to efforts aimed at upholding the principles of international humanitarian law in armed conflicts. This situation presents various challenges to implementing these agreements, which, despite their shortcomings in Gaza and other conflict zones like Sudan and Syria, have saved countless lives and alleviated the suffering of civilians amid brutal warfare. Therefore, commitment to these principles by parties engaged in armed conflicts is essential and must not be abandoned or lost. I sincerely hope that this conference will yield meaningful solutions rather than merely result in documents filled with enforceable outcomes.