Mediators, lawyers, judges from different court instances and the Ministry of Justice representatives discussed the Mediation Development Toolkit as presented by the Council of Europe International expert on 29 March 2022. The event also allowed an exchange on the current challenges in the field of mediation and steps to be undertaken to further promote the application of the mediation in the country in the light of the Council of Europe standards and best practice of the member states. Participants had the opportunity to familarise with the new website of the Self-regulatory Organization of Mediators of Armenia (www.mediators.am) as developed through the project assistance for the Self-regulatory Organization of Mediators of Armenia.

During the discussion the question of Standard mediation forms was raised. “We acknowledge the importance of the developed Standard mediation forms which are to help the mediators and can be used by parties at different stages of mediation, as well as can be very useful during the assessment of the parties’ satisfaction with the provided mediation services. Thus, it will be very helpful with the help of the Council of Europe expertise to adapt those Standard mediation forms to the legal context of Armenia’’, said Vanik Margaryan, member of the Self-regulatory Organization of Mediators of Armenia. During the meeting the discussions were also held on the collection of the relevant data and statistics, the role of the judges, the peculiarities of mediation in the family and criminal cases, the importance of not only having the respective legal regulatory framework, but also the strategy and the roadmap for further development and application of mediation in the country.

The round table discussion on the application of mediation in Armenia was organised by the Project "Support to the judicial reform – enhancing the independence and professionalism of the judiciary in Armenia". The Project is funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe within the framework of the Partnership for Good Governance (PGG II) programme.