I WRITE IN response to the article which appeared in the September 30 column Everyday Law by Mr Cecil McCarthy, QC.
The Improved Access to Justice Project (IMPACT Justice) is a regional five-year justice sector project funded by the Canadian Government and implemented by the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus. One of the project’s five components is alternative dispute resolution (ADR). (The other components are legislative drafting, legal professional education and standards, establishment and expansion of legal databases, and public legal education.)
As part of the ADR component, the project is training mediators around the region. We have already trained 40 persons in Barbados, drawn from a wide cross-section of the population and especially targeting those persons who are active at the community level. The project has also sponsored a workshop for the staff of the Supreme Court in relation to court-annexed mediation, and has held two public lectures on the topic.
At present, IMPACT Justice is in the process of preparing a model mediation bill for use throughout the region. Among other things, this bill will include standards for certification of mediators and a code of ethics to guide their practice.
We support the call for the expansion of mediation in Barbados.
– PROFESSOR VELMA NEWTON, regional project director, IMPACT Justice
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