Some lawyers are discouraging the mediation mechanisms that the judicial sector is trying to promote, officials have said.

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The government is currently encouraging the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) measures instead of handling every conflict through litigation. This is part of the efforts to improve the dispensation of justice in Rwanda.

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Among the ADR mechanisms that are currently available is Court Annexed Mediation (CAM), an initiative where judicial staff - specifically registrars and judges - encourage parties to use mediation, after realising that it is the most appropriate way to resolve a dispute that has been presented to the court.

Over the past four years, on average 896 cases were resolved through CAM out of the 80,000 to 90,000 cases that were reported to courts during that period.

One of the challenges facing CAM is less responsiveness by some lawyers who even discourage their clients from going for it.

Speaking on Monday, March 20, during the launch of the mediation week, a period that the judiciary put in place to encourage the use of mediation, Sam Rugege, the head of the advisory committee of professional mediators, pointed out some of those issues.

"Over the last two months we have visited at least nine courts within the city of Kigali and the bigger towns. What we have heard is that some lawyers are not enthusiastic about persuading their clients to take part in mediation. There are even those who actively discourage their clients from mediation,” he said.

"We heard a story, I think, from Gasabo intermediate court where the lawyer and his client agreed before the court that they will go and try mediation; but as they were going out of the court, by the registrar’s window, the registrar overheard the lawyer telling his client, ‘forget that mediation business, we shall win our case.’” He narrated.

Away from that, Rugege said there are many lawyers who are cooperative and enthusiastic about mediation, and noted that things will get even better in the future.

"Conversion to mediation is a long term process. We should not be discouraged, we should hope that progressively more and more lawyers will continue to join this movement of peaceful resolution of disputes,” he said.

Among the reasons that are thought to cause some lawyers to resist mediation are the perceptions that justice is rendered when two parties stand before a judge, tell their story and the judge takes a decision. In addition to this, some lawyers think that litigation is a business and that they should find the means of making it more successful.

Bruce Edwards, one of the pioneers in developing mediation as a tool for resolving commercial disputes in the United States, told the media in an interview, that the problem of resistance by lawyers is one of the problems faced by mediation in several countries.

"I have taught mediation in up to 25 countries and I can say that lawyers are probably the largest group of people who are resisting,” he said.

"Lawyers are an essential stakeholder in the mediation process. Mediation will not succeed without them, yet in my own country I realised when I started mediation 35 years ago that we had to retrain a generation of lawyers. I think the basis of resistance is largely being uncomfortable with a new process and certainly there is fear of the economic changes that come with mediation,” he added.

According to him, it will take some time for people to get accustomed to mediation, as he expressed optimism that it will happen.

Cortilde Rwimo, a female lawyer and mediator in Rwanda, pointed out issues related to some perceptions that need to change among the people. She hinted on the need to sensitise them.

"As a lawyer, when you receive a citizen’s problem, there is a time that you need to explain to them that it will take more time without getting a solution from the courts because of the amount of cases that are handled there. So, you can ask the citizen if they think there is a way of solving it amicably. There is a need for sensitization so that they will learn more about the importance of mediation,” she noted.

Chief Justice Faustin Ntezilyayo said that during the mediation week, some of the things that will be discussed include some challenges which hamper the promotion of mediation in court, and together find some resolutions and recommendations to the relevant authorities.

"This will reinforce mediation as one of the best ways to increase access to justice given the aforementioned core attributes of such a method: affordability, efficiency, accessibility, flexibility and confidentiality," he said.