Mediator Certification and Professional Standards in Pakistan: Toward a Three-Tier National Framework

Abstract

The development of the professionalisation of mediation is crucial, as is the development of mediators' certifications and professional standards, and their design and enforcement. While the Alternative DisputeResolution Act 2017 and Punjab ADR Act 2019 provide power to the batches of peace process that aretheIslamabad Mediation and Conciliation Centre and the Punjab Mediation Centre to train, accredit andregulate the mediators, there is no sprawling national framework for the standards of certificationof
mediators. In this article theoretical bases of mediator credentialing are discussed, followed by areviewof the mediators' credentialing models developed in Australia, UK, Singapore and the USA, an assessment
of the present mediator credentialing's system in Pakistan, identifying their structural weaknesses andsuggesting a national mediator credentialing's system based on three tier levels according to the context of
Pakistan's institutional framework and its diversity in the demand of dispute resolution facility.