A PUBLIC forum on ‘Alternative Dispute Resolution’ was yesterday persuaded that mediation is the way to achieve success with resolving conflicts.
Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Governance Enhancement Project, in collaboration with Guyana Association of Women Lawyers (GAWL), it was hosted at Ocean View Convention Centre, Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara.
The Coordinator, Ms. Pauline Jones-Alleyne told the participants: “We have a number of Court cases that are not coming to an end. We also have many problems in the community that can be solved at that level. Mediation is the way to go.”
She said it was on that premise that the United Nations Association of Guyana (UNAG) undertook to organise the event.
Jones-Alleyne said it would increase awareness, as well as target mediating conflicts that reach the Court or community level.
“There are two aspects of mediation available and, either way, with the right people, we can resolve disputes,” she maintained.
Jones-Alleyne said, in the past, problems were solved at the community level through village leaders and reverting to that tradition can go a long way to ensuring that conflicts, which can be settled through mediation, do not reach the level of the Court.
However, even if they reach there, she said there are mechanisms, such as Court related alternative dispute resolution, to address disputes.
That was one of the topics addressed yesterday and others were ‘Benefits of mediation’, ‘Community related alternative dispute resolution’, ‘The role of peace councils in resolving problems causing conflict’, ‘Solving disputes among children and young people’ and ‘Applying alternative dispute resolution within communities’.
To bolster the impact of the programme, Jones-Alleyne said UNAG has peace councils (PCs) in Berbice, Essequibo, East Bank and East Coast Demerara.
“We have some 20 mullion euros from the European Union and what we will be doing is a number of projects from mid-July. Additional training will be done with the peace councils to resuscitate several programmes that will assist with dispute resolution,” she announced.
Previously UNAG, supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), did work through the PCs to promote peaceful resolution and settlement of conflicts and disputes, in keeping with the principles and ideals of the UN Charter.
Jones-Alleyne said, apart from making them more aware, engaging the public is one way getting them to become more involved in resolving disputes.         UNAG promotes awareness of the UN and encourages understanding of and adherence to the principles and ideals of is charter and also supports a pro-active approach to conflict resolution.