Mediation Institute to Be Created in Georgia to Solve Civil Disputes
By Tea Mariamidze
Thursday, March 14
The Ministry of Justice of Georgia reports that a "Solid legislative framework" is being created for the development of the mediation institution which will solve civil disputes without the long and expensive trials of court.
Thea Tsulukiani, Minister of Justice, stated on March 12 that the Government of Georgia supports “the reform project” that her ministry has been working on for over a year and a half.
"Mediation is an alternative way of resolving civil disputes, which allow citizens to restore violations of their rights through quick and small financial spending,” she said.
The minister explained that the introduction of the mediation institute will defuse the court system from a lot of cases and will accelerate hearings of prolonged disputes due to this problem.
“This reform is called ‘Georgia’s draft law on Mediation and Consecutive Changes’, which will now be introduced to the parliament as a government initiative”, she said, adding the Government of Georgia has a plan to turn Georgia into the “region’s business and arbitration hub” in near future.
The Ministry of Justice says that the Mediation Institute will help to save state funds, which can be used to enlarge the corps of judges and make the whole system better.
Tsulukiani believes that the new institute will also be able to solve financial or business disputes.
“Mediation as a way of solving the business or civil disputes has no alternative. I know there is mistrust towards the mediation in the society, which may be caused due to the low level of awareness,” she added.
The minister also noted that there is a lack of qualified mediators in the country, adding the project will also solve that problem.
The new draft law about the mediation reads that the institution:
Establishes a self-regulating body of mediators and creates a solid institutional basis for the development of mediation;
Creates a legal basis for the development of the mediator profession and the mediation as an alternative means of settlement of disputes
Establishes mandatory requirements for the candidates of the mediators
Determines the mediation procedures
Determines the obligation of protecting the ethics by the mediators and general principles of disciplinary liability
The package of amendments was prepared in the Georgian Code of Procedures
The list of disputes subordinated to Mediation shall be expanded and it will cover bank disputes, labor and loan disputes.
The Ministry of Justice worked on the legislative amendments within the framework of the joint project of the European Union (EU4) and UNDP, and with the financial support of USAID / PROLOG and German International Cooperation Society (GIZ).
