The continuing professional development course on ethics in mediation serves to strengthen the ethical sustainability and reliability of mediation, and to establish the use of uniform conduct standards in the profession.

On October 18-19, with USAID Rule of Law Program support, fifteen mediators from Tbilisi, Mtskheta, Rustavi, Gurjaani, Kutais,i and Telavi court-annexed mediation centers participated in a Mediator Ethics training held by the Mediators Association of Georgia (MAG).

The ethics training was developed as part of MAG’s Continuing Professional Development Program, which was introduced with the support of USAID’s Promoting Rule of Law in Georgia (PROLoG) activity, and is mandatory for all mediators. The training was delivered by Natia Chitashvili, a mediator and member of MAG’s Executive Board, and Irakli Kandashvili, the Chairman of MAG.

During the course, the trainers reviewed the fundamental ethical guidelines applicable to mediation practice in Georgia, discussed the importance of ethics in mediation, and shared strategies and recommendations for handling ethical dilemmas encountered by mediators.

The participants also performed group work where specific cases with ethical problems and dilemmas were raised. For example: how the mediator should maintain the confidentiality of the process, how the mediator should act when disclosing information from one party to the other party to ensure the protection of independence and appearance of impartiality and how the mediator should ensure the voluntary participation of each party, fairness, equity, accountability, and proper identification of parties’ real interests while acting in good faith.

The event is part of the 18-month target grant to MAG from the USAID Rule of Law Program. The grant activities include the improvement of legislation on mediation, experience sharing, the continued professional development of mediators, as well as supporting court-annexed mediation.