Introduction

"EXPANSION OF THE CULTURE AND PRACTICE OF MEDIATION
IN ALL CORNERS OF THE WORLD"

Every mediator, every group, every training school, every nation can take
an active part in sharing its own experiences in an environment which is
perfectly suited to exchanges and mutual enrichment.

GENERAL INFORMATION

The World Mediation Forum

Founded in 1993 during the International Conference of Mediation held in Ireland, based on the brilliant idea formulated by Ms. Barbara Wood, it was officially constituted in 1995 in the Assembly that took place during the I WMF Conference in San Lorenzo de El Escorial (Madrid) under the presidency of Barbara Wood. The WMF was registered in the Spanish Register of Civil Associations with the number 163.749 (Tax Number G-81901910).

Every two years the Conference of the World FORUM of Mediation takes place in order to focalise the expansion, the techniques and the results reached all over the world, creating an effective continual exchange.

The II World Conference was held in Cuba (Havana) in December 1998, sponsor Union of Jurists of Cuba. President of the W.M.F. was Daniel Bustelo.

Sardinia (Italy) has had the honour of hosting the III Conference W.M.F. and Ms. Savina Pinna has been appointed as the delegate for the organisation. The president of the III Conference is Ms. Ana Maria Sanchez Duràn.

AIMS

Each World Mediation FORUM Conference, held every two years, provides a space to focus attention on the expansion and the practice of mediation, the knowledge of the fields of application which are multiplying and for the identification of the specific techniques which are being perfected, enriched and refined.

The professional training of mediators should be considered. This should correspond to the needs of modern society and contribute to the expansion of the culture of mediation.
The World FORUM of Mediation, up to this point, has divided the applications of mediation into three areas:

· family,
· business,
· social.

Within each area there are many applications. There are many the laws and draft bills which are being approved by many governments for the application of mediation. Recently the EC has also financed projects on mediation and considers it a useful practice for promoting non-violence and for educating the younger generations, also in the schools, for the positive management of conflicts.

Conference objectives:
To favour the expansion and the practice of mediation in all corners of the world.
To facilitate a constant exchange of new experiences and new knowledge.

THEMATIC PROGRAMME

General themes will be grouped in three main areas: family, business and social mediation in such a way as to allow speakers and participants at the Conference to examine more closely the areas which particularly interest them. After the plenary sessions during the three days, work will be carried out simultaneously in three halls with their own translation concerning diverse arguments relative to all three areas.

Some fundamental bases are highlighted, which are defined as indicators, common to the three areas of mediation:

Legislation on mediation (government responses to mediation, the use of mediation in the most diverse fields, processes for raising awareness, projects which have been brought about and those which have not, centres created in every environment and in every nation and their peculiarities, aims achieved, prospects and existing limits).

The profession of mediator (past and present, different training schools, different models, the needs of mediators and those using mediation, the training of trainers, ethical codes, professional ethics, the professional roll, the possibility of exercising the profession in one's own nation, in Europe, in the world; the mediator and the judge, the mediator and the psychologist, the mediator and the sociologist, the mediator and the social worker; the mediator in schools, the mediator and the family, legal and business consultant; the mediator and health, the mediator: inheritance and succession, the mediator and community; the mediator and professional secrecy, the relationship between the mediator and other professionals, the profession of mediator and the practice of mediation; co-mediation, strategies techniques, new fields, aims achieved and existing limits).

Prospects for mediation (the contribution and support of various disciplines between theory and practice, inter and intra-institutional mediation, orientation, intuition, deduction, strategies and experiences, expectations and limits, interaction and distinction from other professions, multi-ethnic mediation, mediation in emergency situations; mediation in public services, mediation in contexts concerning expert opinions, mediation in social and business policies, mediation in the community, neighbourhoods, in a penal context: between victim and accused, mediation and compensation, different models of penal mediation, the relationship between penal mediation and the State, mediation in sport, school mediation; different models of mediation; peculiarities in the training of school mediators, etc.)

The normative aspect could be useful: to individual mediators, to organisations to have a clear and well-defined overview of existent norms on a world basis. Concentrating on the profession of mediator, the training of mediators, professionalism and/or operational practice such as with the training of trainers are constituent elements of the success on which also the European FORUM, training and research into family mediation, has constituted a commission for the approval of programmes according to standardised models. Ethical codes, professional rolls and/or other modes which ease, defend and protect mediators and those using mediation are proposed for development as they become different models of training based on resources and the peculiar needs of the specific context.

Prospects for mediation. At a time of opening to the world, where communication has overcome the barriers of time and space, and mediation has seen a marked increase, it would be as well to analyse and consider within the spaces offered by the Conference, the aetiology of conflict, the expectations and the limits of this profession, the existence and necessity of different models. The striking possibility of access to different contexts, the processes and techniques of mediation, that aim and orient individuals towards the positive management of conflicts, lend themselves well, in modern society, to operating positively, in all the fields where human relationships are linked together in a fragile way, where destructiveness and hate devour human potential.

Mediation is, as is well-known, effective in a timespan ranging from childhood to maturity and the end of our existence. It "imposes" itself in all contexts (from family, to community, to social, to school, to penal, to business, etc. It imposes itself everywhere: between nations, groups, individuals, where conflict is destructive, where the deeper relationships are, more intense the sentiments, more recognisable the differences, more insistent the interests, greater the need for equality of rights, indispensable communication .

These are not thematic points but rather indicators common to the three areas. As these indicators have been highlighted, full autonomy for proposals is left to speakers, to chairpersons of the round tables and symposia, to the experts, to the guests, to all those who, in some way, wish to contribute and make active and effective the space which is offered by this Conference embracing all the world; the Scientific Commission will evaluate all the proposals and indicate those which will constitute an integral part of the final programme.

INTERNATIONAL AWARDS

CE.RI.UM. has instituted three international awards:

Voices of Childhood (a symbolic work by a Sardinian artist) will be awarded to the writer Richard Salem (mediator and trainer, president of Conflict Management Initiatives, an organisation which upholds and encourages the use of mediation and other collaborative processes for the management of community conflict) for having published the book: Witness to Genocide - The Children of Rwanda - drawings by Child Survivors of the Rwandan Genocide of 1994.

A similar award will be presented the American First Lady Hiliary Rodham Clìnton for her contribution of the preface to the book. This award interpreted by a Sardinian artist will symbolise Listening. Without its echo, each voice is lost to the world and this First Lady has shown an ability to listen and receive the tormented voices of tortured childhood.

A further prize entitled Pioneers will be awarded to John M. Haynes and his wife Gretchen for their deep involvement and pioneering commitment in spreading mediation projects througholit the world. Above all in so far as John trained the mediators of the CE.RI.UM. school, the first school in Sardinia to which he dedicated attention, care and predilection. CE.RI.UM. dedicates with affect and recognition the efforts made to bring about this opportunity for sharing, exchange and learning the III WMF Congress.

A special consideration will be dedicated to:

Barbara Wood, the Irish mediator who in 1993 had the idea of founding
the WMF and first President of the WMF;
Danici Bustelo, who in 1995 was the second President of the WMF;
Ana Maria Sanchez Duràn, the third President of the World Mediation Forum..

A particular thought should also go to:

members of the Management Committee of the WMF;
members of theScientificCommittee of the III Congress;
members of the Organisational Committee of the WMF;
sponsors of the III Congress.

Dott.ssa Savina Pinna
President of CE.RI.UM.
Delegate for the organisation of the III WMF Congress