Part of my June was spent preparing for and being involved in a peer mediation initiative in Singapore called Peacemakers. This project was first run in 2010 and had as its purpose the goal of bringing the ideas of mediation and collaborative problem solving to young people. This initiative saw students (aged between 13 to…
I find myself writing this blog from South Africa, at the annual conference of the International Association of Conflict Management – http://www.iacm-conflict.org/. It is a fantastic melting pot of ideas, bringing together a range of cultures and identities. Cultures, at first sight, seem to describe national and group identities: South African, American, French, Dutch, Tanzanian,…
On Friday 22 June 2012, the National Council of Bhutan unanimously enacted the Alternative Dispute Resolution Bill. As a result, the Kingdom of Bhutan joined the group of jurisdictions with a mediation/ADR-friendly regulatory framework. Bhutan is a small country, located on the southern slopes of the eastern Himalayas, populated by only approx. 700,000 people. Bhutanese…
What is the association The Geneva Association for neighbourhood mediation (“AsMéd-GE”, see website, in French, www.mediation-de-voisinage.ch) was created in 1994 in Geneva, Switzerland, by people from various social movements: neighbour and community associations, parents of students, social services, non-violent movements, political parties, justice… Its goal is the promotion of mediation for disputes involving neighbours. The…
Looking back over my previous blog posts it strikes me that I’ve been throwing the term integration around a fair bit in the context of dispute resolution and mediation, in particular. The term “alternative dispute resolution” has always sat somewhat uneasily with me. While it is of course a correct description, as the procedures it…
Hard on the heels of Bill Wood’s opus a month or so ago here is the latest from the folks at JAMS (click on the image)
It’s never easy to get a grasp on national statistics for mediation. The closest we come in the UK is a biennial (that’s once every two years, not twice a year!) survey carried out by CEDR, for which I for one am very grateful. The latest survey results have recently been released and these are…
Looking beyond the short term, the fun, and the parties, large international sports events are an opportunity for the host country to improve the life of its citizens on a permanent basis. Large sport events may serve as a catalyst for political support around the solution of issues that otherwise might be unaddressed and, therefore,…
Mediation is a reality that has come to stay in the dispute resolution sector. Its advantages have been mouthed by all and its relevance continues to expand in scope and depth. Mediation training courses have become best sellers in most jurisdictions as the lawyers and other professionals scramble for knowledge of the process. However, one…
My work as a commercial mediator in Ontario Canada generally involves the resolution of money disputes. The process, most days, starts with a brief joint session during which the lawyers, and sometimes the clients, advocate for their perspective on the dispute. We then break to a caucus format and I become the shuttle diplomat usually…
