The use of “The Responsibility to Protect” doctrine under the United Nations preventive actions

The “post-cold war” world challenges the big issue of new threats to the international security system. Most of them are in connection to the phenomenon of fragile, disintegrated states (known as “failed states”), in which government does not control the state’s territory and deliver political goods to its inhabitants. This situation, when state loses its exclusive right to enforce law on its territory leads to the ongoing internal conflicts generally based on ethnic or religious tensions and threatens the local, regional and, possibly, global security. The paper looks at the matter of preventive diplomacy as one of the most successful tools in preventing the violent conflicts and mass atrocities. Author emphasises the need of the use of the mechanisms of preventive diplomacy not only enshrined in the Charter of The United Nations (mainly in Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter), but also those that can be described as a “measures to build confidence” among members of international community. The paper also examines the existence of the new concept of “The Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) within the tools and mechanisms of prevention. R2P is a holistic concept, which includes responsibility to prevent, react and rebuild, what is more, pointing out the primary responsibility of the state to protect its population and stressing that only if state is unwilling or unable to comply with its obligations of protection, the international community shall act in its place. To conclude, R2P, seen as a historical, new approach of international law, based on the principle that state sovereignty implies responsibility, can become an efficient response to the issue of deadly internal conflicts, especially on the level of prevention