RESPONSIBLE TO PROTECT AND RESPOSNIBLE FOR REMEDY: A CONCEPT OF RESPONSIBILITY IN THE CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL JUSTICE DEBATE1 Marta Soniewicka (Poland) Jagiellonian University, Poland Introduction: genocide case and world hunger Let me start with two well known illustrations to the problem of global responsi- bility. First, let me invoke here the example of Rwandan genocide in 1994 that brought about extermination of thousands of Tutsi (about 75% of Tutsi population) killed by Hutu. In the case of Rwanda, the very disturbing moral aspect is that it could have been prevented by intervention of the UN corps that were taken away from Rwanda, letting the genocide happen. 2,500 military personnel might have saved 800,000 lives. he question that can be posed in this situation is: are we responsible to protect people who live in other countries? Another illustration is more general – it happens every day. his is a problem of extreme poverty, famine and world hunger. As we can read in UN development report ‘One child died every three seconds’2 and ‘10.7 million children every year do not live to see their ith birthday’.3 Most of these children are from the LDCs and die of poverty-related causes (malnutrition, lack of access to safe water or health care etc.). Great world poverty that kills more than 1200 children per hour is worse than any natural disaster that people have sufered in the last century. his level of mortality is comparable with about three tsunamis each month. But unlike tsunami, it is predict- able to a high degree and preventable disaster. he current trends of growth and hu- man development are not matters of destiny and we do actually need so little inancial efort to guarantee efective aid. Over 50% causes of human mortality in developing countries are completely curable in high-income countries. Making use of advanced technology, science, economic growth and social welfare, the current generation, as an economist Jefrey Sachs argues, has an unprecedented opportunity to challenge the 1 I owe special thanks to professor Margaret Moore and professor Jon Mandle who gave their insight- ful comments on the irst version of this paper, which was presented at the 23rd Congress of Philosophy of Law and Legal Ethics (IVR): Law and Legal Cultures in the 21st Century: Diversity and Unity in Kra- kow in 2007. he publication is co-inanced by the Foundation for Polish Science 2 United Nation Development Programme, Human Development Report 2005, New York, URL = <http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2005/>, p. 27. 3 Ibid., p. 3. Journal III.indd 109 2010-04-16 08:21:39