Arab League

Context:

The Arab League recently voted to reinstate Syria’s membership after its suspension more than 10 years ago.

Key Points:

Syria was ousted from the Arab League in 2011 following President Bashar al-Assad’s brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests, which led to the ongoing civil war in the country.
The conflict has since killed around half of a million people and displaced about 23 million.

About Arab League:

The Arab League, formally known as the League of Arab States, was established in 1945 with initially just six nations.
Currently, it has 22 member states, who have pledged to cooperate on economic and military affairs, among other issues.
Founding Members: Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Transjordan (now Jordan), Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Other Members: Libya, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco, Kuwait, Algeria, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Mauritania, Somalia, the Palestine Liberation Organization, Djibouti and Comoros.
Its broad mission is to improve coordination among its members on matters of common interest.
The league was chartered in response to concerns about postwar colonial divisions of territory as well as strong opposition to the emergence of a Jewish state on Palestinian territory
According to the Council on Foreign Relations, an American think tank, “The League makes decisions on a majority basis, but there is no mechanism to compel members to comply with resolutions.”