Mediation programme launched to address large volume of Family Court cases
With a large number of Family Court cases filed in 2022, the Supreme Court of Judicature launched its mediation programme last month and has completed training the first batch of family mediators. The training was done on January 6, 9, 10, and 11.
Acting Chief Justice Roxane George, SC, who delivered the feature address at the opening of the training, highlighted the large volume of Family Court cases filed last year in the three counties.
Participants, facilitators, and the Chancellor of the Judiciary Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards after the family mediation training
She emphasised that due to the heavy influx of court cases, the use of mediators will assist Judges in the disposal of cases without the need for a trial.
She noted that “dealing with family matters requires a particular skill set”.
According to Justice George, “more settlement means more satisfied litigants”.
For her part, Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag) Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards challenged the participants to utilise their skills and encouraged the non-lawyer participants to sit in Family matters and submit reports. The Chancellor also said that “we can use this to allow mediators to participate in mediation proceedings with eventual full mediation”.
Justice Cummings-Edwards was keen to point out that this mediation programme was the first in the history of Guyana for family mediation.
She also extended congratulations to all of the participants as she thanked them for sacrificing their time to be trained as family mediators and wished all of them the best.
The training session was described by participants as being very interactive and informative. After the training programme, all participants were presented with a certificate.
Mediation is a crucial and integral part of the justice system. It assists the parties to arrive at a settlement, which is a win-win for all.
This training is geared towards imparting the knowledge needed to equip the participants with the skills required to deal with such matters.
The training was funded by the Judicial Reform and Institutional Strengthening (JURIST) Project and facilitated by Mediation Services International (MSI).
The trainers included Senior Counsel and Mediator Jamela A Ali, Mediator and Attorney-at-Law Teni Housty, and Mediation Director, Guyana Mediation Centre, Colin Chichester.
