Message from the Chair of IMI

Dear Members of the IMI Community,

As promised, I am writing to update you on recent activities in which IMI is involved. Some recent developments in the field of conflict management are also contained in this letter.

On November 9, we are holding an IMI Day in Paris, France. We are excited that so many of the members of the IMI Community will attend. If you haven’t already done so, please RSVP at imisupport@imimediation.org.

The Global Pound Conference (GPC) launched this past week. Thirty-six cities in twenty-six countries officially committed to holding a GPC event. The first will be in Singapore on March 17-18, 2016. This is the first time we will have a global conversation about conflict management and what users need and want from the process. The GPC is an extraordinary event. We must band together to secure as many users as possible to understand what they are looking for from conflict management. Core questions will be posed at all of the events with the goal of collecting information and data that will be analyzed and used to formulate future initiatives. The questions themselves have demonstrated that there are many differences in how conflict management is practiced around the world and how the tools are defined. How better to understand different perspectives and look forward to more effective processes by starting at the beginning with the questions?

We need to recognize that the end result may not be the same all over the world, but at least we will gain an understanding of the needs based on the insights of everyone participating.

For more information go to http://globalpound.org. Be part of the process whether in person or on-line!

There’s been a lot of progress in discussions about the adoption of an UNCITRAL Convention for the enforcement of mediation settlements. The last Working Group sessions were in Vienna on September 7-11. You can read a report about the proceedings by going to

http://www.uncitral.org/uncitral/en/commission/working_groups/2Arbitration.html.

Support for the Convention is growing but there still is a lot of work to be done. The next Working Group meeting will be held in New York on February 1-5, 2016, we are already preparing for the session by developing a new survey on the benefits to users of a Convention and we are preparing a presentation on how parties enter into the mediation process and the steps they undertake for a resolution. The goal is to deliver a presentation for member states in which we answer many questions about mediation, its importance to users, and the need for an enforcement mechanism.

I’d like to bring to your attention a recent White and Case/Queen Mary University of London survey on improvements and innovations in international arbitration. While the goal of the survey was to elicit information about international arbitration, there were several questions about the use of mediation to resolve cross border disputes. One of the findings is that there needs to be more education about the benefits of mediation in resolving cross border disputes.

See http://www.arbitration.qmul.ac.uk/docs/164761.pdf

So we have a lot of work to accomplish between now and February.

Finally, IMI is working with the Energy Charter Secretariat to incorporate mediation into Energy Charter Disputes. IMI Board member Wolf Von Kumberg is leading this effort. There is a training on November 5, 2015 and draft guidelines for the resolution of Energy Charter Disputes through mediation are being considered. James South from CEDR and Spela Kosak from the ICC are key supporters in this work.

There are two news items that I would like to bring to your attention since they advance dispute conflict management worldwide.

The Fiji Mediation Centre was launched on October 14, 2015. IMI Board member George Lim was actively involved in the development of the Centre. The establishment of the Centre provides Fiji citizens with an effective avenue for access to justice. We applaud George’s work on this initiative. For more information see http://www.fbc.com.fj/fiji/34036/mediation-centre-now-available

I’d like to bring to your attention a notable announcement. On October 9, 2015, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet for its efforts in helping the country’s transition to a democracy. For more information go to http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34485865

The Quartet played a key role mediating between different stakeholders in the post-Arab Spring government. This Award points out that mediation impacts our global communities in many ways. We congratulate the members of the Quartet for their work. We also are encouraged and gratified that with this Award, the International community is recognizing that conflict management including mediation is an important tool serving our local and global communities. We should look for more opportunities to acknowledge the impact and importance of conflict management and dispute resolution as a profession.

This has been an exciting few months and there is more to do. We welcome your ideas and support for these and other IMI initiatives. Let us know where you would like to participate.

Warm regards,

Deborah Masucci
Masucci Dispute Management and Resolution Services
Chair, International Mediation Institute

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