Switzerland said it will host an international conference on March 7 on the protection of Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories, as called for in a United Nations vote, AFP reports.

The 196 signatories to the Geneva Convention will be invited to the meeting, which will be attended by ambassadors, a spokesperson for the Swiss foreign ministry said.

On September 18, the UN General Assembly mandated Switzerland to organise the conference, given that the Alpine country is the depository of the international treaties setting out the rules of conflict and humanitarian law.

Such “conferences of high contracting parties” cannot take binding decisions but can “reaffirm the rules of international humanitarian law and the obligations”, the Swiss government says on its website.