2024 Rebooting Mediation – Global Edition

By Federica Simonelli, Dialogue Through Conflict Foundation

Increasing mediation use, in all fields, needs renewed support. The Dialogue Through Conflict Foundation is leading a global empirical study to provide decision-makers with evidence-based insights on both the benefits and
challenges associated with different mediation policies.

In March 2024, the European chapter of the project “Rebooting Mediation” kicked off. Part of a worldwide effort, the first segment of this initiative, called “Rebooting the EU Mediation Directive,” aims to assess the status and impact of mediation legislation for civil and commercial cases in EU Member States and the United Kingdom (a former EU country). It builds upon the Rebooting the Mediation Directive study, presented to the European Parliament in 2014, to understand why mediation was not as widely adopted as expected despite efforts such as the EU Mediation Directive.

Conducted by an international team of mediation experts for the Dialogue Through Conflict Foundation, this new study is based upon a questionnaire addressed to various dispute resolution experts across the EU and the UK. The questionnaire covers estimates of the current mediation market, assessment of existing laws, legislative and non-legislative proposals, and information on mediation and litigation costs.

The results will be officially published in the form of a report by the Fall of 2024
after which aggregated data will be analyzed and evaluated to recommend measures to promote mediation further and more effectively. The Foundation strongly believes that increasing mediation use is fundamental to the advancement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda Goal No. 16 to ensure universal access to justice and achieve peaceful and inclusive societies. In fact, as part of its Sustainable Conflict Global Initiative (SCGI), the Foundation advocates for international consensus on the legal principle that serious and reasonable mediation efforts should be required in at least a minimum percentage of all suitable litigated cases.

Following Europe and the UK, the same questions will be extended to mediation
experts and practitioners worldwide: the GCC+ Countries, Switzerland, Brazil, and the Asia-Pacific region will follow. In a global effort to increase awareness of the power of mediation not only in the public sector but in the private too, it is important to highlight that businesses are now required to be more and more conscious of their Economic, Social, and Governance (ESG) responsibility, a driving force that will orient policy decision-making for the private sector in the years to come. And mediation can play an enormous role in this! Please do not hesitate to reach out to the Foundation if you’d like to bring this global project to your continent/region: [email protected].

For now, if you are a mediator, an academic with interests in the field, or
encounter mediation in your professional practice in any EU Member State or in the United Kingdom, fill in the survey here:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3SNX7ZW and help us increase mediation
awareness and use worldwide!

                       

Federica Simonelli

Federica is an IMI-qualified civil and commercial mediator at the Chamber of Commerce in Bolzano, Italy. She coordinates the secretariat of the Dialogue Through Conflict Foundation, a not-for-profit based in Rome and New York. She is a research fellow and lecturer at the University of Trento School of Law, in… MORE >