DUSHANBE, January 11, 2013, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan’s public associations intend to draft a law that would establish a mediation program.
The International Association for Protection of Rights of Female Labor Migrants and the League of Female Lawyers of Tajikistan have put forward this initiative.
“Our goal is to get as many as possible partners involved in the work on the law,” Ms. Muqaddas Sharipova, the chairperson of the International Association for Protection of Rights of Female Labor Migrants, told Asia-Plus in an interview.
She added that in some countries, the mediation law has worked for some 60 years.
Mediation, as used in law, is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), a way of resolving disputes between two or more parties with concrete effects. Typically, a third party, the mediator, assists the parties to negotiate a settlement. Disputants may mediate disputes in a variety of domains, such as commercial, legal, diplomatic, workplace, community and family matters.
The term “mediation” broadly refers to any instance in which a third party helps others reach agreement. More specifically, mediation has a structure, timetable and dynamics that “ordinary” negotiation lacks. The process is private and confidential, possibly enforced by law. Participation is typically voluntary. The mediator acts as a neutral third party and facilitates rather than directs the process.
The Russia Duma, for example, passed the mediation law on January 1, 2011. The law establishes a mediation program for settling civil disputes including those dealing with economic activities, labor relations and family relations. Following extensive negotiations the preceding winter, the legislation, though titled “Alternative Procedures for Dispute Settlement”, focuses exclusively on Mediation and the role of the Mediator. The legislation also establishes procedures to regulate the relations that arise between the parties during Mediation.
