Geneva: the State mediation office technically unemployed

The canton’s administrative mediation office (BMA) is forced to cease its activities. The mandate of the cantonal mediator, Edouard Sabot, elected on November 1, 2018, ends this Friday. Following a selection process, only his candidacy was presented to the Grand Council. However, last week, a majority of deputies chose not to retain it. Without a designated successor, the BMA can no longer function.

This body aims to settle disputes between the people of Geneva and the administration extrajudicially. In 2022, certain deputies questioned the activity of the BMA, judging it closer to social advice than to conflict resolution.

Then seized of the file, the Court of Auditors noted in 2023 that the bulk of the work of the BMA consisted of helping citizens to navigate the twists and turns of the State. Mediation itself, which involves a meeting between the two parties, represented only 5% of its activity. According to the Court of Auditors, the misunderstanding has its roots in the law behind the creation of the body. Written without a political vision, it does not allow a decision between the two possible mandates: facilitation on the one hand, conflict resolution on the other.