On March 31

On this day in ...
... 1992, following the explosions of 2 passenger jets in which hundreds of persons perished -- that of Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988 (right) (photo credit) and of Union de transports aériens Flight 772 in September 1989 -- U.N. Security Council Resolution 748 was adopted by a vote of 10 ayes, 0 nays, and 5 abstentions. The resolution banned flights and arms sales to Libya, and called upon the North African state to renounce support for terrorism.

(Prior March 31 posts are here, here, here, and here.)

Today's guest Bloggers: Christie Edwards & Susan Tiefenbrun

It's IntLawGrrls' great pleasure to welcome Christie Edwards (left) and Dr. Susan Tiefenbrun (right) as today's guest bloggers.

► A 2003 recipient of France's Légion d'Honneur, Susan is Professor of Law at San Diego's Thomas Jefferson School of Law, where she also serves as Director of the Center for Global Studies; Director of the Summer Program in Hangzhou, China, conducted jointly with Zhejiang University College of Law; and of the Summer Program in Nice, France, conducted jointly with Hofstra University and the University of North Carolina.

Susan earned her B.S. and M.S. degrees magna cum laude from the University of Wisconsin, her J.D. from New York University School of Law, and her Ph.D. magna cum laude from Columbia University, magna cum laude. After attending law school Susan -- who speaks 10 foreign languages -- practiced international commercial law in paris and New York. She's an expert in eastern European joint venture laws, as well as the laws of the European Union, China, and the former Soviet Union. Before joining the faculty at Thomas Jefferson, she taught at Columbia, Sarah Lawrence, Michigan, and Hofstra. Susan has written frequently on human trafficking; her other interests include international law, corporate law, securities law, international intellectual property, women and international human rights law, and law and literature. Susan is past President of the Law and Humanities Institute and currently the Vice President of its West Coast branch.

► Christie earned her J.D. in 2007 from Thomas Jefferson, specializing in international human rights law. She also has a B.A. from The Master's College, where she spent most of her studies abroad in Israel, Switzerland, and interning in Washington, D.C., and is now pursuing her LL.M. degree at American University's Washington College of Law, with specializations in International Human Rights and Gender. Christie is currently working on several research and writing projects concerning human rights issues that affect women in North Africa, and has just been awarded the prestigious Arthur C. Helton Fellowship of the American Society of International Law in order that she may further her research.

Susan and Christie currently are collaborating on a new casebook on women and international human rights law. In their guest post below, they discuss their recent co-authored article, Gendercide and the Cultural Context of Sex Trafficking in China.

Heartfelt welcome!

On May 26

On this day in ...
... 1969 (40 years ago today), in Colombia, diplomats from that country plus Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela signed the Cartagena Agreement (formally titled the Andean Subregional Integration Agreement) "in order to jointly improve their peoples’ standard of living through integration and economic and social cooperation." Today the subregional organization established by this and related agreements, la Comunidad Andina/the Andean Community (flag at right), has 4 members: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Chile withdrew in 1976, and Venezuela, which had joined in 1973, withdrew in 2006.
... 2001, the Constitutive Act of the African Union entered into force. The agreement, by which the 53-state-party-member African Union (flag at left) replaced the 38-year-old Organization of African Unity as the primary regional organization for the continent, had been adopted at Lomé, Togo, on July 11, 2000.

(Prior May 26 posts are here and here.)

Déjà vu all over again

Sound familiar? The 1st Lady of a major American democracy is a Senator representing one of the largest metropolitan areas in her country. And now she's running for the Presidency following her husband's departure from that office.
No, we're not talking about that former 1st couple of the the United States.
Aides to Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina, confirmed yesterday that although he will not seek another term in the Oct. 28 election, his wife, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (left), Senator for the province including the capital city of Buenos Aires, will seek to succeed him.
Though a novelty in the United States, the phenomenon of household dynasty is not unknown elsewhere. This year's unsuccessful candidate for the French Presidency, Ségolène Royal, separated from her longtime partner, Socialist Party leader François Hollande, amid speculation that he wants to run in the next Présidentielle. The notion that a wife might take her husband's seat is not unfamiliar to South Americans, either:
►Following the death of President Juan Perón in 1974, his widow, Isabel Martinez de Perón, served a turbulent term as interim President of Argentina until she was deposed in a military coup in 1976.
►Following the death of President Cheddi Jagan, voters elected Janet Jagan President of Guyana in 1997; she resigned for health reasons 2 years later.
Indeed, Chile's President since 2006, Michelle Bachelet (right), a single mother, is the only woman to have been elected head of state in the region without marital link to a former President.