Abstract: Looks at voting at the UN Security Council. The introduction makes the point that a proposal (or draft resolution) may be submitted by any member/s of the Council (known as the sponsor or co-sponsors), and that a member of the UN who is not a member of the Council may also submit a proposal, but it will only be put to the vote at the request of a Council member. A procedural motion or draft resolution may be withdrawn at any time as long as no vote has been taken on it, unless it has more than one sponsor, in which case a vote may be required. The first two sections of the chapter discuss procedural motions and substantive decisions, and the next section discusses the veto (as implied by Article 27 of the Charter), and includes tables giving details of all vetoes cast from 1946 to mid 1997. The following two sections discuss the double veto (examples are given) and the ‘hidden veto’, and the remaining sections discuss abstentions (with examples), absence, non-participation in the vote, consensus and unanimity (details are tabulated of Council resolutions adopted ‘without a vote’ or ‘by consensus’), and when decisions are binding.

Keywords: absence, abstention, binding decisions, consensus, double veto, draft resolution, hidden veto, non-participation, procedural motions, proposals, submission of draft resolutions, submission of proposals, substantive decisions, UN Security Council, unanimity, UN, veto, voting,