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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Agreement signed on founding mediation center

Belgrade, 31 January 2006

Serbian Minister of Justice Zoran Stojkovic and regional director of the World Bank Wilma Van Benthem signed today an agreement on opening a Centre for Mediation in Belgrade, which will accelerate the introduction of mediation into the domestic judiciary.

Wilma Van Benthem, left, and Zoran Stojkovic

Author: Fonet

Mediation is an informal procedure for resolving disputes in a peaceful manner with the help of a third, neutral party, the mediator, who is obliged to respect the interests of both sides and help find a mutually acceptable solution.

Stojkovic explained that the centre will allow citizens to seek justice in an easier and cheaper manner, but will also contribute to making courts faster and more effective. He expressed conviction that in the very near future a regional center for mediation will also be established.

He said that is the goal and in his opinion it will be achieved successfully, and that similar efforts are being made concerning criminal matters through the new Law on Criminal Procedure.

The Center for Mediation, with its headquarters in Belgrade, will be responsible for training mediators, issuing licenses for mediators; it will register them and publicly announce the list of mediators, and will determine their code of ethics and supervise their work.

The mediation procedure has already been in use for three years in the Second Municipal Court in Belgrade, and since October last year also in the First Municipal Court. The Sector for Mediation of the Second Municipal Court used it in 1,176 cases in the previous year, of which 1,506 were successfully resolved.

Organised by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the project for mediation judges has trained more than 40 judges from Belgrade, Subotica and Nis, and by March this year training will be held for 80 more judges.

Founders of the Center for Mediation in Belgrade are the Serbian Ministry of Justice, Child Rights Center from Belgrade, Belgrade Chamber of Advocates and the National Bank of Serbia. Financial support has been provided by the IFC, member of the World Bank, the Canadian International Development Agency and the government of The Netherlands.