New York /Information Office/ 01 October 2015/ HE Assistant Foreign Minister for International Cooperation Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani has affirmed that the State of Qatar is a key activist in the preventive diplomacy. This came during HE's participation at the Ministerial Meeting of the UN Group of Friends of Security, held in New York on the sidelines of the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly. In his speech at the meeting, which was convened by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, HE the Assistant Foreign Minister for International Cooperation Affairs said that the State of Qatar calls actively to protect civilians and this is what pushed it to appoint a senior government official responsible to protect civilians, adding that this initiative is the first of its kind in the Middle East, not only to develop and strengthen a national mechanism to protect civilians, but also to promote the spirit of responsibility towards security in our region. He noted that the State of Qatar has been involved in several high-level meetings held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, focused on issues related to the consequences of atrocities of mass crimes committed against civilians. He also stressed Qatar's support for a draft resolution on security responsibility to be submitted to the 70th session of the General Assembly. HE called on the international community to adopt the preventive diplomacy by addressing the root causes of committing terrible crimes, saying that the international community must take appropriate actions and bear its responsibility to stop committing more atrocities in Syria. At the end of his speech, he stressed that holding perpetrators responsible for the mass crimes is a key to enhance the credibility of the road map for the transition process period after the end of the conflict, and to create a suitable environment for reconstruction and peace-building as well as to send a clear message to political leaders that they will be responsible for acts of injustice and oppression.