In
early July, I was fortunate enough to attend the World Mediation Organization’s
inaugural World Mediation Summit. The conference was held July 1 - 4, 2014, in
Madrid at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales (Industrial
Engineering School) of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. The next
scheduled, and newly renamed, “WMO Symposia” are to take place later this year
in Hong Kong, Dallas and Manila, with a June 2015 WMO Symposium to be held in
Berlin.
The
dream of Daniel Erdmann, Ph.D., of Berlin, director general and founder of the
World Mediation Organization (WMO) and professor and director of the School of
Mediation at Euclid University, the concept of these symposia was designed to
gather ADR professionals from around the world to connect, share their
expertise and discuss topics related to conflicts of cross-border and
international interest. The initial conference drew more than 100 mediators, attorneys,
barristers, judges, scholars and diplomats from 18 different countries,
representing Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Australia, the Middle
East and the Caribbean. The four days were replete with informative
presentations, panel discussions and training sessions – as well as plenty of
enlightening and invigorating networking.
It
appears that only relatively recently has mediation begun to be understood as
“important and necessary” in Europe and other areas. Supportive legislation has
even been enacted within the last few years. Here are but a few succinct,
country-related highlights from some of the presentations.
• Romania: Pursuant to a 2006 law,
mediation began to be organized as a profession. A 2008 European Union
mediation directive has helped regulate services, quality of training, equal
treatment, etc.; nonetheless, in the words of the representative from the
Romanian Mediation Council, the only mediation regulatory agency in that
country, “Romania is still fighting for mediation.” According to the
representative, the country has 9,000 mediators, only a third of which are
actually working. They’re still in the process of promoting mediation
everywhere, especially in mass media. The government is said to be uninterested
in mediation, though the courts are more receptive. Currently, it’s not
considered constitutional to require mediation.
• Spain: Here too, the courts are
beginning to appreciate the importance of mediation. A July 2012 regulation
“made mediation a reality” for civil and commercial disputes. Our conference
host, the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales, has formed an
organization of mediation-trained engineers (Institución de Mediación de
Ingenieros); thus far, 350 have been trained, all with at least 150 hours of
training. Elsewhere, since 2006, there have been localized, restorative
mediation activities for criminal cases. Valencia, a city of more than 815,000
inhabitants, has instituted a successful police mediation program; it’s been
catapulted into a “Proyecto Europeo” (European Project), so as to share the
model with other European countries, and has been working well in Italy and
Greece, though not as well in Bulgaria.
• Greece: Although mediation has been
practiced in Crete since the 13th century, Minoan era, efforts to institute
mediation in Greece commenced only in 2007; 350 mediators have now been
trained.
• Eastern Caribbean (9 states): As long
as a lawsuit is filed, case management or a high court judge will refer cases
to mediation; it’s not compulsory, but if the court refers you, compliance is
obligatory.
• Italy: There was no real mediation
until 2009, when it became compulsory, and in 2010 the Italian Ministry of
Justice adopted an executive regulation that called for easy access for all
professionals; it involved a “low-intensity,” 50-hour training course and
minimal requirements for mediator trainers. A “chaotic” situation ensued, with
lawyers divided: While some have seen this as a new professional opportunity,
the majority has considered mediation as a “calamity” for their own businesses;
they immediately boycotted it, even going on strike. Many other professionals
expressed interest in mediation, seeing it as a way to supplement their
earnings. Judges were initially confused and suspicious: “Only judges make justice. Mediators do
something completely different that is not giving justice to people.” In time,
they changed their minds. An October 2012 law
overturned a July 2012 law that had mandated mediation, due to the government’s
lack of power to impose it. Ultimately, in May 2013, the UE Commission gave its
support to mediation and in August of that year enacted a new law that simply required
parties to be informed about mediation prior to their initiating a claim. There
is said to be poor quality of training, and increased demands from mediation
with few resulting mediations.
Some
other interesting presentations and workshops included (presenters’
countries indicated parenthetically):
• Mediating complex large group
conflicts (Canada): Highlighted was a very challenging, client-services group
conflict that involved forty employees, four managers and twenty-nine different
ethnicities
• Cross-border divorce mediation and
the “two-day attorney-assisted model” (USA): 98% of cases are resolved within
two days
• Online dispute resolution (ODR) for
mediation (India and UK): Challenges and benefits; new software and processes
(ODR was frequently highlighted during the conference)
• Challenges experienced in
restructuring complex programs with local governments in war zone environments
(Afghanistan)
• Indigenous communities in India
(Amnesty International) and other areas (Philippines and Myanmar):
Circumstances, conflicts, protections
• Strategies for providing the
non-violent resolution of international conflicts (Mediators Beyond Borders):
Capacity-building projects that build local organizational and peace-building
skills, advocacy projects that promote the appropriate use of mediation
worldwide, facilitating dialogue
• Applying psychology to conflict
resolution (UK)
• The process and theory of mediation
(Spain and Italy)
• Mediating complex cases for
international corporations and nations (USA): Fortune 500 companies could take
4 - 9 months
• Missing children of Europe – Family
mediation involving transporting children beyond borders (Belgium): Of 700+
cases studied, 47% solved through amicable solutions; must be co-mediated
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Egypt
and Palestinian Territories)
• Brains matter: The art and science of
using the mind in conflict resolution -- Neuroplasticity (USA): Every time you
learn something new, it changes your brain! (Admittedly, this session was one
of my personal favorites!)
For
more information about this valuable conference as well as upcoming WMO Symposia,
you might wish to contact Dr. Erdmann directly at mail@worldmediation.org or visit http://worldmediation.org/symposia/.
All
the best,
Mallory
Stevens
mstevens@msconflictres.com
www.msconflictres.com
917-716-6654
