Veto, Right Of Veto

Like few other provisions of the United Nations Charter ( Charter of the UN), the veto right is reputed to symbolize the world organizations dependence on the will of the permanent members to cooperate in the Security Council. The legal basis for the veto right is provided in Article 27 of the Charter, which regulates the voting procedure (Voting Right and Decision-Making Procedures) of the permanent members of the Security Council. The political practice of the Security Council has developed two more exceptions: Contrary to the wording of Article 27 (3), which states that a nonprocedural decision needs the consent of all permanent members, the abstention from voting or the absence of permanent members are not considered as veto. The distribution of the vetoes of the permanent members over the years shows that the great powers vetoed decisions more or less frequently during the various phases of the superpower struggle. Keywords: Article 27 (3); Security Council; United Nations Charter; veto right