You are a human rights practitioner; You are a
conflict mediator. You are having a negotiation about how to address human
rights violations: through courts or through mediation. What are your major
concerns for each of the options? What do you think will be the concerns of the
other side for each of the options?
HR practitioners' concerns about courts
-Selection of court (where and which court be the most appropriate?)
-Power imbalances in cases involving the state (political influence)
-No confidence of ruling in favor of victims
-Time and cost ineffective
Conflict mediators' concerns about courts
-Conflict or violation may continue even after justice achieved
-Lack of chance to understand each other
-Both parties might not satisfied with ruling (lose-lose situation)
-Time and cost ineffective
HR practitioners' concerns about mediation
-Possible to negotiate with perpetrators?
-Selection of mediator (Is he/she reliable? - fairness)
-Negotiation circumstance (will victims not be intimidated or offended facing violators?)
-Justice may not be achieved (imposing impunity)
-Can the result be trusted to be kept by violators? (Isn't court ruling more reliable?)
Conflict mediators' concerns about mediation
-Not easy to bring both parties to the negotiation table
-Inefficient for sustainable peace
-Maintaining to be impartial
-Making consistent dialogue with HR practitioner (Controlling HR reports not to harm the negotiation)
-Pressure on leading progress for both parties (Otherwise, it would affect negatively to the legitimacy of ADR)
What would be some basic rules to apply in negotiations between HR and CR practitioners, in other conflicts, too?
-Consistent dialogue between HR and CR practitioners for not to harm each other's practice methods (HR practitioners try not to make a negative impact on peace process, CR practitioners' duty to update its process to HR practitioners and to inform them when and how they want HR practitioners' interventions when it comes to mediation)
-Collaborated assessment defining characters of conflict in order for which approach would be effective to apply
-Collecting exact information and knowledge of conflicts
-Understanding cultural backgrounds of conflict
-Respect each others' perspectives in any circumstance