Dakar, Jan 7 (APS) – The law does not authorize the use of mediation when the dispute concerns certain offenses, those which undermine public order, for example, recalled private law professor Ndiaw Diouf, former dean of the law faculty of the Cheikh-Anta-Diop University of Dakar.
”It must be said that mediation cannot be implemented when certain offenses are committed. When there are offenses which essentially undermine public order, we cannot consider mediation,” said Mr. Diouf.
The private law associate spoke with the APS on the notions of mediation, arbitration and conciliation, following training that he provided alongside other experts, in December, at Dakar.
”There is what we call criminal mediation, but it is essentially for offenses which harm the interests of individuals, in matters of breach of trust or fraud, for example,” he said. -he explained.
Ndiaw Diouf points out that ”when there are serious breaches of public order, during demonstrations which degenerate for example, we cannot consider mediation”.
It also specifies that ”not all disputes can give rise to mediation or arbitration”. ”In matters of divorce, for example, we cannot go to arbitration…”
”These are diversion circuits whose role is to relieve congestion in the courts […] For mediation, we have the justice centers, for example. For arbitration, we have arbitration, mediation and conciliation centers. We also have arbitration before the Common Court of Justice and Arbitration,” he said.
This regional jurisdiction he is talking about is that of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa. It belongs to 17 African countries.
”The parties choose not to go before a state judge. They choose to go before a person occasionally entrusted with the mission of judging,” continued Ndiaw Diouf to explain the arbitration.
”There is institutionalized mediation: you go before an institution like a house of justice. But this mediation can be done outside the courts,” he said.
In certain disputes, ”we do not go before an institution, it is the parties themselves who organize the arbitration and choose their arbitrator […] We are not going to resort to the service of an institution like the house of justice. The parties can organize the mediation or conciliation procedure themselves. This is called the ad hoc procedure,” he explained.
ESF/ASG
