The League of Arab States is an international organization that unites Arab states, as well as a number of friendly non-Arab states in which Arabic is one of the official languages. Learn more about who founded the Arab League and other interesting facts

The League of Arab States is a regional organization that was created to bring closer relations between member states, protect their independence and sovereignty, coordinate cooperation between them, and protect the interests of Arab countries. Currently, the League has 22 members - these are the countries of North, West and East Africa and West Asia.

The League promotes the implementation of political, economic, cultural, scientific and social programs aimed at promoting the interests of the Arab world.

Who founded the League of Arab States?

The league was founded by Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. All seven founding members signed the charter in 1945, with Yemen signing a few months after the others. In 1953, the first expansion of the League took place, when Libya was admitted. The youngest members of the organization are Comoros and Djibouti, they joined in 1993 and 1977.

During its existence, the League of Arab States significantly influenced various aspects of the life of Arab countries. However, the history of the organization is also rich in unusual facts. Today we will tell you 6 interesting facts about the League of Arab States.

What is the main criterion for membership in the League of Arab States?

The main criterion for membership is language. Although the citizens of all Arab League countries, with the exception of Lebanon, are overwhelmingly Muslim, the League is united by the Arabic language, not by religion or ethnicity. Arab identity is complex and defined differently by different people, even in the Arab world. Some members of the organization also have additional official languages besides Arabic.

Not all Arab League observer countries speak Arabic

In addition to the 22 members of the league, the organization includes four countries - Brazil, Venezuela, India and Eritrea. They are classified as observer countries. Brazil, Venezuela and India do not use Arabic as an official or working language of their countries. Eritrea, however, uses Arabic alongside English and the Tigrinya language.

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All but one of the Arab League secretaries-general were Egyptian

Chedil Klibi of Tunisia was the only non-Egyptian secretary-general. He served as the league's fourth general secretary from 1979 to 1990. During the entire period of the existence of the League of Arab States, only eight people, all of them men, held the post. The current secretary-general, Ahmed Abul Ghait, took office in July. In addition, six of Egypt's seven secretaries-general were also former Egyptian foreign ministers.

Each Arab state has one decision-making vote

Decisions are binding only for the states that voted for them. In fact, technically, each country chooses whether it will comply with the decision or act at its own discretion.

The League of Arab States covers an area of about 14 million square kilometers

This area is more than three times the size of the European Union and almost 50% larger than the United States. As of 2014, the League of Arab States was home to approximately 366 million people.

Throughout history, three member countries have been excluded from the organization

Egypt became the first country to be expelled from the League of Arab States. This happened in 1979, after the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty was signed. In 1989, she was re-admitted to the organization.

Libya's participation was suspended in February 2011 during the country's revolution and resumed in August of the same year. At that time, the interests of the country were represented by the National Transitional Council.

Also in 2011, Syria's membership was suspended due to the escalation of the civil war in the country. The Syrian opposition now represents Syria in place of Bashar al-Assad's government.

Photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images

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