Mediation as an extrajudicial method of conflict settlement

Abstract

Despite the recent judicial reform in Ukraine, the level of public confidence in the judiciary is rather low. This is due to the imperfection of the judicial system, the workload of the courts, the delay in the consideration of the case and the distrust of the judges.

Today, an increasing number of people are interested in resolving disputes by other, alternative methods, without bringing the conflict to justice. The experience of leading European countries shows that alternative dispute resolution methods are a fairly effective way to avoid litigation. The most common and most effective in Europe is mediation - a way for the parties to resolve the conflict with the involvement of a qualified mediator - the mediator, whose main task is to establish communication between the parties and resolve the dispute on mutually beneficial terms.

It should be noted that in the Ukrainian legislation the concept of mediation is not enshrined at the legislative level, and therefore there is no regulation of this issue.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is considering the draft Law "On Mediation" dated 19.05.2020, submitted by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

The authors of the bill define a fairly wide scope of mediation, which in addition to civil, family, labor, economic, administrative disputes also includes criminal proceedings in which it is possible to reconcile the victim with the suspect.

An important feature of mediation is that, unlike litigation, it is not clearly regulated and structured, so the parties to the conflict have the opportunity to build this process on their own.

The position of the mediator as a mediator in resolving disputes is debatable.

Another issue for discussion is the implementation of the decision made in the mediation process. As mediation is not a legally established way of resolving a conflict, decisions made by the parties are not binding.

An important step for the introduction of the institution of mediation at the national level should be the creation of a network of training centers that will train and improve the skills of staff who will provide the mediation process.

The article examines the process of mediation as an out-of-court settlement of conflicts. The advantages and disadvantages of mediation are identified. An analysis of the draft law "On Mediation" was made. Discussion issues that may arise in the process of mediation are studied.