Student Lawyer to Work for Eritrea

摘要

In May this year, a 21-year-old Japanese female student left for Eritrea to take part for one year in the work of compiling a new penal code for the African country. Kanae Doi, a junior at the University of Tokyo, was the youngest among the successful 2.88 percent pool of winners from a total of 25,454 applicants sitting for the 1996 state law examination. It was after passing the difficult examination in November last year that Doi learned about preparations by the African country for the streamlining of its legal system. Eritrea, a country with a population of 3.5 million, won independence from Ethiopia in May 1993 after a fierce civil war. The strife, followed by a drought, left its economy in a shambles, forcing the country to seek food aid from abroad. With the economy now being steadily reconstructed, the four-year-old country is today approaching another turning point.