Absence
Absence (in Voting)
The absence of a State when a vote is taken in an organ of an international
organization can raise problems. One authority confi dently asserts that '[i]t would
seem to be safe to conclude that in general absence would be treated in the same way as an
abstention': Amerasinghe , Principles of International Law of International Organizations
(2nd ed.), 152. See abstention (in voting) . Certainly, the justifi cation for not equating
abstention with a negative vote does not apply to absence given that absence presents no
opportunity to cast a negative vote. However, absence may be unchallengeable, at least by
the absent State, where it is estopped by some breach of a constituent instrument occasioned
by that absence, as, e.g., the failure of a permanent member of the Security Council to 'be
represented at all times at the seat of the Organisation': art. 28(1) of the U.N. Charter.[1]
Absence
Resources
See Also
- Seven years' absence
Resources
Notes
- The entry “absence (in voting)” in the Parry and Grant Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law (currently, the Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law, 2009), Oxford University Press