ESTABLISHMENT OF MEDIATION BOARDS

A general procedure sanctioned by the law is adopted in the establishment of community mediation boards, and is as follows:

  1. Minister of Justice publishes an Order in the Gazette to specify the Mediation Board Area.
  2. Mediation Boards Commission (MBC) publishes a Gazette to issue notifications for Nominations from persons, organizations and government institutions.
  3. Selected candidates will be interviewed by the MBC and MBC will select the eligible candidates as Mediator Trainees.
  4. Selected candidates follow a preliminary training course in mediation and mediation techniques.
  5. This is followed by the training of mediator trainees and make a report on aptitude, knowledge and skills (recommendations) for appointments by Mediation Training Officers (MTOs)
  6. Establishment and appointment of mediators (MBC)

A general procedure sanctioned by the law is adopted in the establishment of special mediation boards, and is as follows:

  1. Minister of Justice (MOJ) publishes an Order in the Gazette to specify the Categories of Disputes, Special Mediation Board Areas, monetary value and the qualifications for mediators
  2. Mediation Boards Commission (MBC) publishes a Gazette to notify for nominations from persons, organizations and Government institutions.
  3. Selected candidates will be interviewed by the MOJ/MBC; and MBC will select eligible candidates as Mediator Trainees.
  4. Selected candidates follow a comprehensive six (6) day training programme on mediation and mediation techniques conducted by the Mediation Training Officers (MTOs)
  5. Mediator trainees are assessed on aptitude, knowledge and skills at the end of the training program and the recommendations are made to the MBC by MTOs.
  6. Appointment of Mediators/ Establishment of Special Mediation Boards by MBC
  7. Additional training by experts for the selected Mediators on technical knowledge and skills on the relevant categories of disputes 
  8. Stakeholder meeting and commencement of special mediation process

COMPOSITION OF MEDIATION BOARDS

Twelve to fifteen mediators are generally appointed to one board and each mediation session involves a panel of three mediators. The mediators on the board sit at mediation sessions in rotation. Each panel consists of a chief mediator, and in the event that the Chairperson of the Mediation Board is also a member of that panel, then he will be declared as the Chief Mediator. In his absence, a Chief Mediator would be selected from the available pool of mediators forming the panel.