Reporting on Conflict | Media Watch Blog

• News source:
• originally published 25 February 2013
• Pacirfic Standard
• By Ethan Watters

IN THE SUMMER of 1995, a young graduate student in anthropology at UCLA named Joe Henrich traveled to Peru to carry out some fieldwork among the Machiguenga, an indigenous people who live north of Machu Picchu in the Amazon basin. The Machiguenga had traditionally been horticulturalists who lived in single-family, thatch-roofed houses in small hamlets composed of clusters of extended families. For sustenance, they relied on local game and produce from small-scale farming. They shared with their kin but rarely traded with outside groups.

While the setting was fairly typical for an anthropologist, Henrich’s research was not. Rather than practice traditional ethnography, he decided to run a behavioral experiment that had been developed by economists. Henrich used a “game”—along the lines of the famous prisoner’s dilemma—to see whether isolated cultures shared with the West the same basic instinct for fairness.

• News source:
• 15 April 2013
• Mondaq
• By The Technology & IP Law Group

On March 12, 2013, the European Parliament approved legislation that will see the creation of an online dispute resolution platform for use in disputes between E.U. consumers and traders originating from the online purchase of goods and services.

• News source:
• 26 February 2013
• Mondaq
• By Jessica Proudfoot

On February 12, 2013, the [Alberta] Court of Queen’s Bench released a memorandum announcing that it will not enforce the Mandatory Dispute Resolution Rules “until such time as the judicial complement of the Court and other resources permit reinstatement.” Since their introduction in November 2010, these Rules have imposed an obligation on all parties to participate in at least one dispute resolution process before the Court would allow the matter to proceed to trial…

Unfortunately, rather than improve accessibility, affordability and timeliness, the Mandatory Dispute Resolution Rules proved to be a complicating hurdle to timely resolution of many claims, particularly where the Defendant disputed liability. Long wait times for JDR dates combined with the Court’s resistance to grant orders waiving the requirement meant that parties had no choice but to wait several months for a JDR, or they had to finance a quicker, albeit more expensive, alternative dispute resolution process. This added delay and expense to an already slow and expensive process.

• News source:
• 27 March 2013
• Globe and Mail
• By KIRK MAKIN

An unreleased report commissioned by the country’s top judge is urging a radical overhaul of Canada’s family law system.

The report to Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, scheduled for release next month, calls for restructuring the family law system from the ground up, with a focus on streamlining the court process and ending a fixation on combat…

A copy of the report, obtained by The Globe and Mail, says that estranged spouses and their children are seriously damaged by the adversarial system; and that judges, lawyers and law schools must embrace a culture of mediation and settlement.

• News source:
• 22 March 2013
• Prince George Citizen
• By Mark NIELSEN

With the Family Law Act, the provincial government is hoping to deliver a change in tone when it comes to the children of couples going their separate ways.

Gone are the terms “custody” and “access” that were part of the legislation the Act replaces. Now, it’s “guardianship,” “parental responsibilities” and “parenting time” in an effort to make the issue less adversarial…

The Family Law Act came into force on Monday.

• News source:

Mediation in a Globalizing World: Challenges to Multi-Culturalism, Peace-Building, and Religious Tolerance
De La Salle University, Taft Avenue, Manila, Philippines
December 9-11, 2013

The main objective of the APMF Summit is to facilitate the exchange and development of knowledge, values and skills of mediation in any form including inter-cultural, interpersonal, inter-institutional and international, within and between the diverse countries and cultures in the Asia Pacific region through bi-annual conferences, which are held in the Asia-Pacific region with a different country taking responsibility for hosting each conference.In 2013, the host of the APMF Summit is the Philippines, and the lead convenor is the De La Salle University. The aim of the upcoming Summit is to bring together and engage experienced conflict resolution and mediation practitioners, researchers, educators, trainers, civil society workers/practioners, human rights activists, jurists, businessmen, and policy makers from different cultural, organizational and professional backgrounds who are culturally fluent, creative and innovative, want to contribute and build on their knowledge and expertise, and are prepared to play a leadership role in transforming the way that conflicts are handled in the Asia-Pacific region. The program of the 2013 APMF Summit includes three days of optional pre-Summit activities, and three days of combined paper presentations, round table discussions and mediation workshops at basic and intermediate levels.

Call for Presenters

Topics to be explored through presentations, panel discussions, open forums, and group dialogues during the conference include:

• Business and Mediation
• Mediation and Conflict Resolution/Transformation of Religious, Ethnic, Ideological, and Resource Management conflicts and disputes.
• Mediation and Politics
• Mediation and the Media
• Mediation and Public Policy
• Mediation and Peace and Security
• Mediation and Human Rights
• Mediation and Education
• Mediation, Gender and Development
• Family Mediation and Family Violence (Violence Against Women and Children).
• Mediation and the Courts
• Mediation and Armed Conflicts
• Global Trends in Mediation

Abstracts for presentations

Prospective delegates of the Summit are invited to submit an abstract no more 500 words, and a short biography of no more than 500 words,  on any of the above topics through apmf2013Summit@gmail.com. The deadline for submission is the close of business, March 15, 2013. Accepted abstracts will be announced on April 30, 2013. Please read the ‘Concept Note’ at the bottom of this notice before writing your abstract.

Please indicate the following in submitting your abstracts: a) name of author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of presentation (e) body of the abstract, and (f) key words. We will acknowledge receipt of all submitted abstracts, and authors of accepted abstracts will be duly notified via email. Papers judged to be of sufficient academic quality through a peer review process may be included in a post-Summit edited volume.

If you do not receive a reply from us regarding the acceptance of your abstract in the week following April 30, 2013, please contact us via email for your inquiries.

Pre-Summit Mediation Activities

December 6-8, 2013

Exposure trips will be organized for  Summit registrants who wish to be exposed to the best practices in the field of mediation in the Philippines. These pre-summit trips will allow participants to have exchanges and conduct face-to-face dialogues with grassroots communities and local organizations that practice mediation in various areas of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, while serving as an opportunity to interact with and appreciate the cultural heritage of the Filipino people.

Registration for these pre-Summit activities is distinct from that of the APMF Summit proper.

More info

• News source:

Call for presenters: 6th World Summit on Mediation with Age-Related Issues, in Adelaide, South Australia, 29 April – 1 May 2013, followed by a two-day workshop.

The University of South Australia’s Centre for Peace, Conflict and Mediation in partnership with the Elder Mediation International Network (EMIN) is pleased to invite you to the sixth annual World Summit on Mediation with Age Related Issues. The Summit will be held at the Hawke Centre, University of South Australia, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia from April 29 to May 1, 2013. Previous World Summits have been held in Scotland, Switzerland, the United States, Ireland and Canada (see www.eldermediation.ca ).

As the needs of families become more diversified and our population gets older, age related issues are steadily finding their way into a variety of fields of service. Increasingly, mediators are required to become more specialised in their training to meet this burgeoning demand.

Event details
Date 29 April – 1 May 2013
Venue: Hawke Building
50-55 North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia

Call for presenters

Deadline for the submission of abstracts: February 25, 2013

Notification of acceptance: on or before March 19, 2013

• News source:

The University of South Australia’s Centre for Peace, Conflict and Mediation in partnership with the Elder Mediation International Network (EMIN) is pleased to invite you to the sixth annual World Summit on Mediation with Age Related Issues. The Summit will be held at the Hawke Centre, University of South Australia, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia from April 29 to May 1, 2013. Previous World Summits have been held in Scotland, Switzerland, the United States, Ireland and Canada (see www.eldermediation.ca ).

As the needs of families become more diversified and our population gets older, age related issues are steadily finding their way into a variety of fields of service. Increasingly, mediators are required to become more specialised in their training to meet this burgeoning demand. For more information, registration and information for people who would like to present on relevant aspects of their work please go to the Summit website: http://www.unisa.edu.au/Calendar/World-Summit-on-Mediation-with-Age-Related-Issues/

• News source:

Conflict management coaching, also known as conflict coaching, is a specialized niche in the fields of coaching and conflict management. It is a one-on-one technique in which a trained coach assists people to effectively manage specific disputes and to enhance their conflict management skills.

CINERGY® offers training by telecourse (10 weeks, 2 hours per week) or 4-day in person workshops:

• Telecourse – Wednesdays from 6:00-8:00 pm Eastern from March 27 to May 29, 2013
• Ottawa, Canada – March 4-7, 2013
• San Francisco, CA – March 5-8, 2013
• Toronto, Canada – April 15-18, 2013
• Arlington, VA – May 6-9, 2013

Workshops are also conducted in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and other parts of Europe.

• News source:
• 8 November 2012
• ADR Tech Blog
• By Bill Warters

From Conflict to Cooperationis a lovely series of five cartoon-style booklets from Cooperatives UK which aim to help groups not only deal with conflict when it arises but also to avoid unnecessary conflict…

• News source:
• 3 December 2012
• Huffington Post
• By Richard Javad Heydarian and Walden Bello

Seldom has a global conference been so devoid of positive expectations than the United Nations Climate Conference that is taking place in Doha, Qatar. In fact, people could be forgiven for thinking a joke was being played on them, given that the meeting is being held in Qatar, one of the world’s leading producers of oil, which is a key reason for the world’s climate woes.

But seldom has a meeting been as necessary for the future of the planet as the Doha meeting, also known as “Conference of Parties 18,” or COP 18.

• News source:
• 22 October 2012
• Kluwer Mediation Blog
• By Rick Weiler

Recently, during a lull in the action in a tort mediation, I was drawn aside by an insurance representative I see frequently. He had concerns about my “style” as a mediator. “Every mediation it’s the same thing”, he said. “It’s almost like everyone knows where the case is going to settle in advance so why can’t we just get to it? Why do we have to do this tedious dance lasting a full day?” He was bored. I had some sympathy for his position. I sometimes have the feeling at the start of a mediation that I’m about to present the same play for the umpteenth time. The old joke attributed to Elizabeth Taylor’s fifth husband crosses my mind: “I know what I’m supposed to do, but how do I make it interesting?”

Of course, the truth of mediation is that you never quite know what is going to happen next. This has kept me energetic about conducting mediations for many years (and I hope many years to come). But, more than this, the success of the mediation process very much relies on a one-step-at-a-time approach. It can’t be rushed in most cases.

• News source:
• September 2012
• ACResolution
• By Lawrence Susskind , Patrick Field

In 1996, we published the book Dealing with an Angry Public. In it we raised concerns about the distrustful attitudes that citizens have toward government and corporations, and the inability of these institutions to respond to public concerns in a robust, inclusive, and effective way. We put forward six principles that might help win back the public’s trust. We expected that leaders and organizations that adopted these principles would be better off.

Dealing with an Angry Public: The Mutual Gains Framework

1. Acknowledge the concerns of the other side
2. Encourage joint fact finding
3. Offer contingent commitments to minimize impacts if they do occur; promise to compensate unintended effects
4. Accept responsibility; admit mistakes, and share power
5. Act in a trustworthy fashion at all times
6. Focus on building long-term relationships

We can now cite hundreds if not thousands of cases in which our Angry Public principles and related tools and techniques increased trust, decreased pubic anger, and resulted in positive results…

More broadly, many corporations and governments around the world are now incorporating a serious commitment to sustainability in their operations, addressing social, economic, and environmental issues simultaneously. Corporate stakeholder engagement efforts have led to the adoption of voluntary standards for human rights …

Yet in most respects our desire to spur a different kind of public discourse has not panned out. We have not seen substantial changes in government or corporate behavior…

Why are we more divided than ever before? We believe there are three reasons: 1) distrust of science and expertise as a neutral foundation for policymaking has grown dramatically; 2) engagement with public and common activities has eroded; and 3) a deep economic and demographic anxiety has infected the country…

• News source:
• 30 October 2012
• Mondaq
• By Jean-François Michaud

Persons who believe they have been wronged can sometimes be consoled or mollified by an apology. In many cases, apologies allow reconciliation to be achieved. They are seen as a useful tool in resolving disputes and may make it possible to reduce litigation.1 To date, eight Canadian provinces and territories2 have passed Apology Acts.

Apology legislation serves a dual purpose. From a legal perspective, it affords the protection of the law to the party making the apology. Apologies are not admissible as evidence in civil, administrative or other proceedings, such as arbitrations, and may not constitute an acknowledgment of liability. The victim does not lose any rights and may obtain full compensation for any damages suffered.

• News source:
• 31 October 2012
• Forbes
• By Victoria Pynchon

I was telling a law student yesterday that lawyers have taken a perfectly good conflict resolution technology – mediation – and created a Halloween Christmas.

“You know Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas?”

“Not all that well.”

So I explained.

The story is pretty simple. Jack O’Lantern is tired of throwing the Halloween party so he kidnaps Santa Claus and does Christmas instead. But because his nature, his essence, is Halloween, he creates a Christmas that looks like Halloween.

That’s what’s happened to mediation.

• News source:
• Published in October 2011
• International Journal of Transitional Justice Volume 5, Issue 3, Pp. 345-365
• By Aaron P. Boesenecker and Leslie Vinjamuri†

The impact of civil society on transitional justice is complex in part because civil society is composed of a multitude of actors, faith-based and secular, whose preferences for accountability and truth reflect their varying interests and beliefs about justice. Transnational faith-based and secular actors have played a central role in mobilizing support for liberal-legal strategies designed to hold perpetrators of mass atrocities accountable. Local faith-based actors have been resilient to pressure for conformity and have instead played a pivotal role in adapting international accountability norms and embedding them in local practices…

• News source:
• September 2012
• The National
• By Susan Goldberg

If you’ve got access to the internet, then you’ve got access to justice.

That’s the promise behind online dispute resolution (ODR), which uses technology to resolve disputes between parties. Proponents of this movement, which brings dispute resolution out of courtrooms and lawyers’ offices and into cyberspace, argue it expands access to justice because it is quicker, cheaper and more convenient. But for all of the potential benefits, questions remain about how it fits with the existing system — and what it means for the role of lawyers.

• News source:
• GreatSchools
• Experts say that empowering bystanders to take action might be the key to stopping bullies.
• By Marian Wilde

An eighth-grader approaches a sixth-grader in a crowded girls’ locker room. The older girl says to the younger, “Those are some ugly shoes you’ve got there.” Then, in front of everyone, she takes out a permanent marker and slashes Xs on the younger girl’s shoes, ruining them. The bystanders stare and shake their heads, but do not intervene or try to discourage the bully.

Unfortunately, this passive response from bystanders is not unusual. In other words, bystanders are living up to their name by standing there and doing nothing – and this is a problem. A number of experts today say that bystanders have the power to drastically reduce bullying at schools. Their research offers tips for parents and schools on how to get bystanders to take a stand.

However, bystanders, especially children, need to be empowered to act. The majority of children won’t act for a variety of reasons, perhaps because they are afraid, confused or unsure of what to do.

• News source:
• 15 October 2012
• Toronto Star
• By Susan Delacourt

Bullying is the topic up for debate in the House of Commons today. You may be saying: “At last!” ….

Although it’s a very worthy and timely topic, I’d argue that MPs, political folks and yes, even journalists could make this conversation far more meaningful today if they talked about their own practices on this score; their failure to lead by example.

• News source:
• Prezi
• By Bill Warters