League of Arab States (LAS)

Ligue des Etats arabes (LEA)
جامعة الدول العربية

Founded

1945-03-22 Cairo Egypt

History

22 Mar 1945, Cairo (Egypt), at the Arab General Congress, on signature by representatives of the then 7 independent Arab States of the Pact of the League of Arab States, also referred to as the 'Charter', which is the constituent instrument of the League. Establishment followed meetings 25 Sep 1944 - 7 Oct 1944, Alexandria, later known as the Arab Unity Consultations, at which the Arab League project, subsequently known as the Alexandria Protocol, had been signed. Two further documents may be regarded as complementing the Charter: Treaty for Joint Defence and Economic Cooperation, signed 13 Mar 1950; Charter for National Economic Action, issued 26 Nov 1980. The Charter also proposed to set up J-XJ5834 - Arab Court of Justice (ACJ). All LAS Member States have become parties to both instruments. LAS headquarters transferred temporarily from Cairo to Tunis (Tunisia) in Mar 1979 but returned to Cairo following a resolution dated 10 Sep 1990. LAS is also referred to as Arab League -- Ligue arabe.

Aims

Foster and promote relations among member states in political, economic, social, financial, transport, cultural and health issues; coordinate the policies of member states so as to safeguard their national security and maintain their independence and sovereignty; promote the common interests of member states.

Events

Activities

Structure

'Council of the League' is the supreme policy-, planning- and decision-making body, and convenes at 3 levels: Heads of State; Foreign Ministers; Permanent Delegates to the League. The Council of the League supervises K-XM7104 - Arab Peace and Security Council established 29 Mar 2006, with the aim of preventing inter-Arab conflicts and following up and studying developments affecting Arab national security. E-XE5263 - Arab Economic and Social Council (AESC), set up in accordance with a resolution adopted by the Council of the League in 1977, comprises ministers concerned or their deputies. The AESC is responsible for the economic and social affairs of the League, for supervision of the specialized agencies and institutions and for following up their activities. 'General-Secretariat', supervised by the Secretary General, prepares the work of the Council and follows up progress in the implementation of its resolutions. E-XM1176 - Arab Parliament was inaugurated 27 Dec 2005, Cairo (Egypt); it was expected to become fully operational by 2010. Specialized Ministerial Councils (14):

• Arab Interior Ministers' Council;
• Council of Arab Ministers of Foreign Affairs;
• Arab Ministerial Council for Electricity;
• E-XE8080 - Council of Arab Ministers of Health;
• E-XE5265 - Council of Arab Ministers for Housing and Reconstruction (CAMHR);
• E-XF3376 - Council of Arab Ministers of Justice;
• E-XE2354 - Council of Arab Ministers Responsible for the Environment (CAMRE);
• E-XE5264 - Council of Arab Ministers for Social and Economic Affairs;
• E-XE3929 - Council of Arab Ministers of Tourism;
• H-XE0690 - Council of Arab Ministers of Transport;
• E-XE5278 - Council of Arab Ministers for Youth and Sports;
• E-XE2353 - Arab Telecommunication and Information Council of Ministers;
• Council of Arab Ministers for Water Resources;
• Council of Arab Ministers Responsible for Media.

General Secretariat Departments (50).

LAS missions (26): Delhi (India); Berlin (Germany); Brussels (Belgium); Beirut (Lebanon); New York NY (USA); Washington DC (USA); Geneva (Switzerland); Moscow (Russia); Paris (France); Vienna (Austria); London (UK); Madrid (Spain); Rome (Italy); Addis Ababa (Ethiopia); Beijing (China); Buenos Aires (Argentina); Brasilia (Brazil); Nairobi (Kenya); Moroni (Comoros); Mogadishu (Somalia); Juba (Sudan); Damascus (Syrian AR); Tunis (Tunisia); Baghdad (Iraq); Pretoria (South Africa); Turkey.

Affiliate organs (3):

• F-XF4654 - Arab Fund for Technical Assistance to African Countries (AFTAAC);
• E-XE3291 - Arab Academy of Music (AAM);
• G-XJ1017 - High Arab Institute for Translation (HAIT).

Technical Committees: although expansion of the scope of cooperation among Member States had led to establishment of specialized ministerial councils and agencies to replace technical and specialized committees, some standing, technical committees continue to function regularly. These include committees on human rights, political affairs, information affairs and on legal affairs.

Auditing, administrative monitoring and judicial bodies:

• U-XE5600 - Arab Human Rights Committee;
• U-XF9652 - Administrative Tribunal of the Arab League, also referred to as Administrative Court of the Arab League, which has competence to examine and deliver verdicts on administrative cases filed by General Secretariat staff members;
• Investment Tribunal, which examines disputes between Member States that may arise in the process of implementing the Unified agreement on Arab capital investments in Member States;
• Higher Auditing Board comprising representatives of 7 Member States and undertaking financial and administrative examination duties.

'Arab-African Affairs'

The 1st Joint Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of LAS and OAU, Mar 1977, Cairo (Egypt), adopted a charter instituting the following organs: S-XS0186 - Arabo-African Summit; Ministerial Council; H-XE5382 - Standing Commission for Afro-Arab Cooperation, comprising 12 ministers of each organization and, in addition, the Secretaries-General, who with the 2 co-Presidents comprise the Coordination Committee; Specialized Groups (5), dealing with cooperation in finance, industry, agriculture, transport, communications and telecommunications, and education, culture and information. Organizations set up in parallel by LAS were the Arab Fund for Technical Assistance to African States and BADEA. The 2nd African Arab Summit, 2010, adopted strategy for the African Arab partnership plan of action 2011-2016 and Serte Declaration.

'Arab-European Affairs' Certain mechanisms for the pursuance of the Arab-European dialogue were set up, including the Higher Tripartite Committee, formed of 3 states from each side and the plenary committee. The former was created to address political matters and undertake overall supervision of the technical aspects of the dialogue process, while the latter was meant to take care of economic, developmental and social matters.

Languages

Staff

Relations with Inter-Governmental Organizations

Relations with Non-Governmental Organizations

Publications

Members

Type I Classification

Type II Classification

Subjects ^*

UIA Org ID

XD2903