Use Alternative Dispute Resolution to resolve cases
A justice of the Appeal Court in charge of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), Mrs Justice Irene Charity Larbi, has advised the public to resort to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to resolve their cases.
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The use of ADR, she explained, helped in reducing the backlog of cases in the courts substantially.
Besides, she said ADR was far easier, faster and less expensive compared to seeking a settlement in the traditional courts.
“The ADR mechanism is a reliable partner to the traditional justice delivery system and must, therefore, be embraced and nurtured for an efficient justice delivery system,” she said.
Mrs Larbi gave the advice when she addressed the media and relevant stakeholders at the launch of ADR Week at the Cape Coast Circuit Court yesterday.
She said ADR was very effective and guaranteed the interest of both parties “as the parties are involved in every aspect of the process”.
ADR programme
The ADR Week is observed each year, during which parties that have cases pending in courts that are connected to the ADR programme are given an opportunity to have their cases settled through mediation.
Mediators are assigned to each court to help the parties resolve cases that have been referred to ADR by magistrates and judges.
Mrs Larbi disclosed that the ADR programme had been extended to 87 courts across the nation, with at least five mediators assigned to each of these courts, with a total of 490 mediators trained and assigned to those courts.
She said from January to June 2017 a total of 1,195 cases were mediated out of which 612 cases were settled, representing 51 per cent of the settlement rate.
Land cases
Mrs Larbi noted that with the growing number of land-related cases in courts, the Judicial Service, in collaboration with the Land Administration Projects, had trained 30 surveyors to be used as mediators on a pilot basis to reduce the backlog of the land cases in the land courts in the Greater Accra Region.
She said the week was also used to create mass public awareness in order to educate the citizenry on the use of ADR. Stakeholders, including judges, court officials and lawyers, are also sensitised to the ADR platform.
