<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (February 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (February 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> The United Nations Security Council "power of veto" refers to the veto power wielded solely by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, and United States), enabling them to prevent the adoption of any "substantive" resolution . Abstention or absence from the vote by a permanent member does not prevent a draft resolution from being adopted . However, the veto power does not apply to "procedural" votes, as determined by the permanent members themselves . The permanent members can vote against a "procedural" draft resolution without blocking its adoption by the Council . A negative vote by a permanent member will also block the selection of a Secretary - General, although this is a "recommendation" to the General Assembly rather than a Resolution . The unconditional veto posessed by the five governments has been seen by critics as the most undemocratic character of the UN . Critics also claim that veto power is the main cause for international inaction on war crimes and crimes against humanity . However, the United States refused to join the United Nations unless it was given a veto . The absence of the United States from the League of Nations contributed to its ineffectiveness . </P> <P> The UN Charter provision for unanimity among the Permanent Members of the Security Council (the veto) was the result of extensive discussion, including at Dumbarton Oaks (August--October 1944) and Yalta (February 1945). The evidence is that the UK, US, USSR, and France all favoured the principle of unanimity, and that they were motivated in this not only by a belief in the desirability of the major powers acting together, but also by a concern to protect their own sovereign rights and national interest . Truman, who became President of the US in April 1945, went so far as to write in his memoirs: "All our experts, civil and military, favored it, and without such a veto no arrangement would have passed the Senate ." </P>

Who has veto power in the united nations