The maintenance of international peace and security is the principal purpose of the United Nations. Abuse of the veto in the Security Council may undermine this purpose and cause significant disruption of the United Nations’ international peace and security mechanisms. The objective of this article is to consider the responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security conferred by the UN Charter on the Security Council and the General Assembly, forming a primary–secondary responsibility constellation. The central argument is constructed on a legal examination of whether abuse of the veto may be construed as a dereliction of an obligating responsibility in breach of the UN Charter, and the implications of such a dereliction. The article contributes to the scholarly debate by considering whether dereliction of the primary responsibility conferred on the Security Council should lead to a routine referral mechanism as a development of the existing international peace and security mechanisms in the United Nations for improved legal and political sustainability.