Mediation bodies seal international alliance in Singapore to improve standards
28 April 2021
Five groups from across globe team up to promote cross-cultural awareness and improve training
Singapore Shutterstock Five international mediation training bodies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Singapore aimed at raising international mediation standards. The group has pledged ‘to develop mediation into a recognised and viable profession’ in a move that builds on the Singapore Convention on Mediation, which came into force last September and which allows for the easier enforcement by national courts of international settlement agreements, much as the New York Convention does for arbitration awards.
The government is looking to strengthen existing community dispute avenues to better help victims of community or neighbourly disputes or conflicts to effectively put a stop to nuisance.
This has become an issue very much on the minds of the government, notes Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong, in view of the rise in feedback on neighbourly nuisance in 2020 possibly because of more people staying at home from last year s circuit breaker period.
In doing this, the government hopes to help better manage and resolve these disputes upfront, and also to encourage conflicting parties to take up community mediation, he said.