Justice Ministry To Establish Mediation Service Providers In All Parishes

The Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs is preparing to establish mediation service providers in each parish as part of a major drive to expand community mediation and significantly reduce interpersonal violence across Jamaica.

The initiative will get under way once the Senate passes the Mediation Act, which seeks to establish a regulatory framework for the conduct of mediation in the country.

The legislation will also give effect to the provisions of the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting From Mediation, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in New York on December 20, 2018.

“This Act, which is to be passed by the Senate and [was] already passed in the House, will be a transformative act across Jamaica. It is meant really to open up community mediation,” Portfolio Minister, Hon. Delroy Chuck stated.

He was speaking during a press briefing on key justice matters at the Ministry’s office in St. Andrew on Friday (October 2).

The Minister noted that the legislation, which has been in the making for several years, is likely to be taken in the Senate next week, after being passed in the House of Representatives in July.

“Once the Act is passed, we are going to try to operationalise it, simultaneously with the regulations. We are hoping to enter into MOUs (Memoranda of Understanding) with the business community, the churches… all the different bodies. Because we want as many mediators [as possible] to be trained across the various institutions,” Mr. Chuck stated.

The Minister said the goal is to ensure that any entity that has 20 or more staff, has at least one trained mediator.

“We have started out at the Administrator-General’s Department. We have trained 21 mediators, and we are hoping that any problems of disagreement, especially amongst beneficiaries of ‘dead lef’, that one of the mediators down there can assist,” Mr. Chuck said.

He reiterated that Jamaica has a history of interpersonal disputes and affirmed that community mediation will help to resolve these, thereby reducing cases of assault, threats, violence and, ultimately, murders.

“We need to reduce the domestic violence, which oftentimes lead to murder, and that is where mediation comes in… . We need people to settle their disagreements before it escalates to violence and, sadly, to death, in far too many cases,” Mr. Chuck stated.

He explained that the intent is to put in place a mediation service provider in every parish.

“At the moment, we only have one, that is the DRF (Dispute Resolution Foundation)… . We’ll be working closely with the DRF to roll out a mediation service provider in every parish, so that every individual in any nook and cranny of a parish can go to the justice centre or appeal to that mediation service provider to provide a mediator to assist parties to resolve their disputes,” the Minister stated.

He cited statistics from the Ministry of National Security and Peace, which indicate that the country recorded 122 murders between July and September 2026, marking the lowest tally for that three-month period in 30 years.

“The last two months, we were below 40 [murders] for the first time. August was 37. September was 35. But for the next three months, we want to get it even further down, hopefully closer to 20, below 30. And we are going to urge all Jamaicans to reach out to your brothers and sisters. Let us live in peace and harmony,” Mr. Chuck charged.

Meanwhile, the Minister emphasised that even while the country awaits the Act to implement community mediation, mediation is still alive in the parish courts and the Supreme Court.

Noting that there are thousands of cases set for trial in the courts, with trial dates reaching up to 2029 and 2030, the Minister urged attorneys and litigants to utilise mediation.

“Mediation has to be seen as a win-win situation. When the parties, with the help of a mediator, can look at all the issues that will arise in the courts, they have the opportunity to come to a final decision. They participate in that final decision. While if it ends up in court, it is the judge who makes that final decision, and one party loses,” he pointed out.

Mr. Chuck noted, further, that mediation has been very successful in the parish courts, with a success rate of more than 80 per cent “when a judge has referred litigants to mediation”.

He disclosed that over the last three years, the Ministry has paid out more than $90 million to support court-ordered mediation.

“I am prepared to urge the Government to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars, if necessary, because mediation can assist in settlements, and we are looking for this to happen in the parish courts and also in the Supreme Court,” the Minister maintained.