In a few weeks’ time I will come to the end of a two-year mediation engagement in South Eastern Europe. The conflict in question relates to environmental pollution. The issues are complex and heavily contested, and there are many stakeholders – government, city authorities, environmental groups, investors and business, to name a few. It has…

“We’ve come a long way since we last shook hands Still got a long way to go” “Come a Long Way”, Kate McGarrigle & Louden Wainwright III performed by Kate & Anna McGarrigle and others (including Kate and Louden’s children, Martha and Rufus Towards the end of last year, we took our 13-year-old granddaughter and…

For readers who are new, the “Neuro-Linguist’s Toolbox” series is an ongoing series focused on using Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) in our practice of amicable dispute resolution. The first section focused on rapport (the first of which can be found here). The second section focuses on matters of self-care and personal improvement for mediators (the first…

Note: This was co-authored with Samuel Teo and I would like to acknowledge his significant contributions to the preparation of this entry. In past entries, I have highlighted a peer mediation initiative called the Peacemakers Conference which seeks to teach 13-16 year olds how to resolve conflicts amicably in a workshop cum competition format. As…

“Half moons ago people were hollowed-out tablets of stone spaces were given them according to spaces they left . . . some spaces were filled with darkness no light would shine there . . .” – From “Afkasi” by Dr Selina Tusitala Marsh, former poet laureate of New Zealand Many of you will be familiar…

I blogged recently on the importance in mediation of not forgetting what is happening in the other room. It’s an easy mistake to make. Here’s another one that is easy to make. “Assumed motivation”. A lot of stuff happens both in conflicts and the process of their resolution. Things are said and done by each…

The Brazilian Mediation Act (Law 13140/2015) establishes that “the object of mediation may be a dispute over “disposable” (transferable or waivable) rights or non-disposable, non-waivable rights which are able to be negotiated” (art. 3). In this sense, we wonder if mediation will be available to all the new conflicts that will emerge from the new…

I have in previous entries (July 2012 and July 2013) written about a peer mediation initiative called the Peacemakers Conference. The purpose of the Peacemakers Conference is to teach 13-16 year olds how to resolve conflicts amicably in a workshop cum competition format. This year’s Peacemakers Conference was held from 20 to 22 July 2020….

“The grandchildren put out a treble tongue, Law is the senses of the young” W H Auden, “Law like Love” “In a room where people unanimously maintain a conspiracy of silence, one word of truth sounds like a pistol shot.” ― Czesław Miłosz (Polish-American poet, 1911-2004) A couple of months ago, our 15-year old granddaughter,…

For readers who are new, the “Neuro-Linguist’s Toolbox” series is an ongoing series focused on using Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) in our practice of amicable dispute resolution. The first section (with 6 entries) focused on rapport (the first of which can be found here). This second section focuses on matters of self-care and personal improvement for…