The Hague? Move over: the International Organization for Mediation.

Nuri Vittachi

[Ed Note:  This is a Big Deal.  BRICS countries, take note:  Mediate, don’t Litigate!]

The Hague? Move over. Hong Kong will on Friday become the first non-western location of a top global legal body, the International Organization for Mediation.

The new center in the southern Chinese city will be on a par “with world bodies that specialize in other types of dispute resolution, including the International Court of Justice and the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague,” said Grenville Cross, a law professor in Hong Kong.

FRIDAY LAUNCH

On Friday, representatives from about 60 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe, and about 20 international organisations (including the United Nations), will establish the world headquarters for the International Organization for Mediation, in a classic colonial-era building, the old police headquarters in Wan Chai.

Up to now, headquarters of global legal bodies, from the ICC to the ICJ to the PCA have always been in the west—and it is significant that this one is in a city in China, with Asia, in human terms, being bigger than all other regions of the world combined. 

NOT POLITICAL

But the decision is not political. Hong Kong earned this right.

It has long been a global center for dispute resolution services, with mediation experts flying in every year for global conferences.

The city recently hosted a sort of “mediation Olympics” in which experts from different countries had to show their skills in action.

The launch this week harks back to an announcement made in 2022, when about 20 countries jointly initiated the establishment of the International Organization for Mediation—and the nations chose Hong Kong as the natural base.

CHINESE DESIRE FOR HARMONY

But another factor is the Chinese-ness of the city. The process celebrates an ancient Chinese principle, “first, seek harmony”, and integrates it into a modern east-west business city.

“In addition to embracing the Chinese cultural tradition of valuing harmony, Hong Kong also has mature development in the field of mediation,” said Secretary for Justice Paul Lam, in a speech earlier this month.

WHAT IS MEDIATION?

To explain it simply, mediation and arbitration services offer a simpler, faster resolution to disputes than traditional legal services, that can be very costly and require court hearings that sometimes involve months or years of waiting.

People can instead take their problems to trained women and men who sit around a table, with subject specialists at hand, and work through the issues intelligently until they find answers.

“With Great Dialogue Comes Great Understanding” was the title of a mediation forum in Hong Kong on May 9.

Mediation is closely related to arbitration, although the two are not identical, Cross says. “Unlike an arbitrator, a mediator does not reach a final decision, but simply facilitates an outcome agreeable to both parties. The process is entirely consensual.”

OLDEST IN THE WORLD

China may well have the oldest legal system in the world, with evidence on bronze plaques of legal activity more than 4,000 years ago, academics say. In contrast, the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi, often popularly quoted as the first legal document, is about 3,770 years old.