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

1. 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