Thirty new mediators trained and ready to serve

CLOSE TO 30 Vincentians who have been trained in the process of mediation are now able to help in dispute resolution within this country’s court system.

The new mediators were presented with certificates during a ceremony on Friday at the National Insurance Services (NIS) conference room.

The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court website describes mediation as a structured dispute resolution process where an impartial third party, the mediator, meets with disputants in an effort to identify the issues, explore options and clarify goals, outside of a court environment. The mediator facilitates face-to-face meetings of the parties to assist them in reaching a mutually-acceptable agreement.

Jaundy Martin, attorney general congratulated the new mediators “for you are now at the forefront of a new era in the concept of access to justice and the delivery of justice”.

Martin expressed strong feelings for the process of mediation and revealed that he too is trained as a mediator.

“The days when persons felt that justice meant a court battle for perceived right…are slowly receding into academic jurisprudential past. Alternative dispute resolution is now increasingly making itself felt. This embraces various concepts of dispute resolution between two or more parties that does not involve conventional court litigation,” he said.

The attorney general also said that the mediator is not there to judge but rather to point parties to a decision that both play a part in formulating.

Martin said that mediation is a process that manifests itself in practical everyday activities; in parenting, school, among friends and even at work.

He further listed several regional and international organisations and said that mediation is a prominent feature of these bodies with ambassadors and foreign service personnel being actively involved in the process.

The attorney general was trained as a mediator in 2005 with the first batch of mediators in SVG and he revealed that he has mediated over 30 matters since then.

“I have on many of those occasions, witnessed the win-win magic of mediation,” Martin said. “The process was at first met with mixed reaction from litigants and even the attorneys, but its value as a means of access to justice, its speed, its efficiency and its utility has been taking effect. Our justice system have been reaping the reward of reduced backlogs, the saving of costs and expenses and overall the betterment of our nation.”

Justice Gertel Thom, justice of appeal and chairperson of the Judicial Education Institute (JEI) expressed confidence in the new batch of mediators in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

“When I looked at the list of persons, most of whom are quite familiar, you are a dedicated group, hardworking persons of integrity. I can safely report to her ladyship the chief justice that mediation is in good hands in St Vincent and the Grenadines,” she said. “I also wish to thank you for making the decision to join in the administration of justice in St Vincent and the Grenadines. We must always, always remember that this is our society and all of us, we have a duty to contribute to its development and the development of one another.”

Thom, who mentioned that mediation had not been doing well in this country, said that she believes it will now be successful, particularly for two reasons.

She said that there are plans to have an extensive public education campaign to raise awareness on the process and benefits of mediation.

Thom also said that there was a new approach being taken in managing the mediation process, which includes the National Mediation Committee, which is led by Justice Esco Henry.

She implored the newly trained mediators to be fair and confidential to those seeking assistance through the process of mediation.

“You must always be fair to those you are seeking to assist to resolve their differences and you must be confidential if the public is to have trust and confidence in the mediation process,” Thom said.

In brief remarks, Andrea Bowman, one of the new mediators reflected on the five days of training held in May this year.

Bowman said that mediation was a form of alternative dispute resolution and a challenging job for mediators for several reasons.

One such reason is that of being or seeming to be without bias.

“All individuals have bias and this is one reason why our period of training was so intense. We were trained to be sensitive to our own prejudices and to the triggers of these prejudices. The need to develop a face that does not reveal emotion, a face that is unshockable, was impressed upon us for this is is particularly challenging for persons like me who wear our emotions on our sleeves,” Bowman, who is a former headmistress, said. “Yet, once we imbibe the tenets of the process, we would be able to shift from values to restrict focus on the interest of the parties before us, a shift which is necessary for us to refrain disputes in order for us to arrive at mediating settlements.”

And she expressed hope that the “court system gives us the opportunity to utilise the skills and techniques of mediation to which we were so thoroughly and expertly exposed”.