Justice Minister Says Mediation Law and ADR Policy Set to Transform Community Conflict Resolution

Hon. Delroy Chuck, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, says Jamaica’s new Mediation Act and its first full national Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) policy will reshape how neighbourhood conflicts are settled and should help drive crime lower still.

Speaking Wednesday (July 22) at the ADR Policy Development and Estate Planning Forum at AC Hotel Kingston, he stressed that the Mediation Act will equip the justice system with an up-to-date legal foundation.

“Achieving the vision of financial independence, getting our people to live peacefully, require more than policy. It also requires a modern legislative framework. That is why I’m pleased that the Government has recently laid the Mediation Bill. We are hoping that it will get to the Senate by about September and it will be fully in action before the end of the year,” Mr. Chuck said.

The House of Representatives approved the Mediation Act on July 14. The statute is meant to set out rules for how mediation is carried out in Jamaica. It will cover community, court-ordered and cross-border mediation, as well as how mediators are registered and how mediation service providers are licensed and supervised.

The law will also implement Jamaica’s obligations under the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation, which the UN General Assembly adopted in New York on December 20, 2018.

According to Mr. Chuck, the country’s first wide-ranging national ADR policy will create a joined-up national structure to grow the use of alternative dispute methods among households, communities, workplaces, companies and the justice sector at large.

“The policy seeks to foster a culture where conflicts are addressed early, resolved amicably, and prevented from escalating in costly litigation and values,” he said.

He again underlined that while policy tools are being introduced, the wider aim is to stop disputes from arising across society.

“One of the best ways to resolve conflict is to prevent it from occurring in the first place,” he said.

The Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs has lately produced the national Policy for ADR. Its purpose is to raise awareness of, and improve access to, non-court ways of settling disagreements, supporting a more peaceful, secure and harmonious Jamaica.

The Wednesday forum is the second in a run of public sessions that form a key plank of the public education drive. The ADR policy is to be turned into a green paper for Cabinet consideration.

Mr. Chuck steered the Mediation Bill through the House. Among the significant changes was an adjustment to clause 11, which creates an offence for running a mediation service without a licence. The maximum penalty had been proposed as a fine of $1 million; lawmakers amended it so a jail term may also apply.

Justices of the Peace, officials from the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, staff of the Administrator-General’s Department (AGD) and other members of the legal profession attended the forum.