ACT for Conflict Resolution holds the First International Mediation Forum

On Tuesday January, 25th 2022, ACT for Conflict Resolution organized the First International Mediation Forum in Palestine, which was held in person at the Caesar Hotel in Ramallah and virtually via Zoom, with an international and regional participation.

The forum began with an opening speech by the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Justice, "Mr. Ahmad Thabaleh", the Humanitarian Security Adviser in the Swiss Representative Office, "Ms. Emilie Saghir", and the Executive Director of ACT for Conflict Resolution, "Mr. Mohammad Hadieh".

The forum included three main sessions, the first session was about “Supervision of Mediation for Conflict Resolution”, in which Legal Adviser Dr. “Emad Eddien Hussein” from the United Arab Emirates presented the status of mediation among conflict resolution alternatives, which included a number of Arab and international experiences. Furthermore, Ms. Maysa Hamarsheh, the General Manager of the General Department for Alternative Dispute Resolution ADR, and Mr. Mahmoud Alawneh, presented the Palestinian Mediation Bill.

This was followed with the second session, which focused on the role of mediators in effective amicable settlement, in which Legal Adviser Dr. "Abd al Hannan Al-Issa" from Oman, presented the importance and effectiveness of mediation in conflict resolution. As well as the international mediation expert "Gerry O'Sullivan" from Ireland, who presented on the methodology of asking questions during mediation process.

The third session was titled "Mediators - Sunstainable Societal Peace Builders", in which the Director General of The Independent Commission for Human Rights, Dr. Ammar Dweik, presented the Commission’s experience during the past few years in the benign mediation between Palestinian parties, which meanwhile, it succeeded in bringing the points of view between the conflict parties and reaching settlement agreements in some of them. Moreover, the researcher “Khaled Saleem” presented youth mediation between realistic challenges and concept issues, and the session was concluded by presenting a success story of Mrs. Mai Abu Ghazaleh, whom is a trainer on mediation at ACT for Conflict Resolution.

It is worth mentioning that the Mediation Forum was held within the Young Mediators Project with the support of the Swiss Representative Office in Ramallah, which seeks to empower young leaders and enhance their capabilities and competence to work as mediators, through theoretical and practical trainings.