The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), supported by the European Union, established a “Support to Justice Initiatives Curbing Corruption and Promoting Commercial Dispute Resolution Programme” in Iraq in 2021. As part of that programme, the UNDP organised two intensive courses in commercial mediation for university law faculties in January and February 2024, taking place in…

Rafal Morek’s post last month, Investor-state disputes: how arbitration and mediation can intertwine to provide more resonant solutions, emphasized the increasing use of mediation to resolve investor-state disputes, albeit still confined to a small number of cases under the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Convention. As the late Professor Derek Roebuck noted…

The forthcoming Singapore Mediation Convention aims at ensuring the international “direct” enforcement of Mediated Settlement Agreements (“MSAs”) worldwide (see the post by Nadja Alexander, on a short description of the Convention). This means that an MSA shall be enforced directly in any Singapore Mediation Convention contracting state, without a prior review or granting of enforcing…

During its 68th session from 5 – 9 February in New York UNCITRAL Working Group II (Dispute Settlement) concluded its work on the preparation of an instrument or instruments on the enforcement of international commercial settlement agreements arising from mediation. In the mediation community we often refer to such settlements as (international) mediated settlement agreements…

If you have been following this four-part series, you will be aware that Nadja Alexander, Anna Howard and I have been reflecting on a very current subject for the dispute resolution community: the enforceability of international commercial settlement agreements resulting from mediation. This week, the UNCITRAL Working Group II on arbitration and conciliation has been…

The 65th session of the UNCITRAL Working Group II on arbitration and conciliation in Vienna has commenced. Many mediators have been keenly monitoring the Working Group’s deliberations and discussions concerning the enforcement of international commercial settlement agreements resulting from conciliations (iMSAs). An unresolved but crucial question is the exact form that the final instrument should take….

In the aftermath of the Brexit vote and the appointment of Theresa May as England’s Prime Minister, there are many things to think about and there will be much to negotiate. While some commentators anticipate a U-turn on Brexit, Theresa May has made it clear that “Brexit means Brexit” – whatever that means. In this…