Ghana’s Judicial Service has set out to achieve a 95 percent settlement rate for all cases referred to Appropriate (Alternative) Dispute Resolution (ADR) this year, as it ends the commemoration of its ADR Week.
The Service is optimistic of achieving the 2021 target in view of the renewed efforts towards enhancing the adoption of ADR mechanisms, especially mediation by litigants, for the resolution of disputes.
Out of the 5,455 cases that were referred to mediation by the courts last year, 2,312 were resolved successfully, representing a settlement rate of 42 percent.
The Court-Connected ADR (CCADR) programme has since its inception in 2007, been achieving an average of 49 percent settlement rate annually.
Justice Irene-Charity Larbi, a Court of Appeal Judge, who is in Charge of ADR, says the Service remains committed in intensifying its efforts towards enhancing the ADR programme for an expanded patronage.
In her address to officially open the ADR Week last Monday at the Ada Magistrate Court, she noted that the CCADR programme, which is being extended to more courts, is currently operating in 131 district and circuit courts across the country, with at least five mediators assigned to each of the courts.
The service has also established ADR secretariats in 10 regions, manned by coordinators, in addition to the training of 635 mediators as part of measures to make ADR an integral component of the justice delivery system.
As part of the ADR Week celebration, the courts devoted more attention to ADR, as the Judges referred more cases to mediation for resolution.
ADR sessions were also held in the courts to enable court users to appreciate the essence and advantages of ADR mechanisms, in facilitating an expeditious, inexpensive, amicable and confidential resolution of disputes in a way that protects relationships.
By Edmund Mingle/ www.adrdaily.com
