The Development of Mediators Towards a Profession by Buddhist Peaceful Means

Abstract

The research article consisted of the following objectives: 1) to study problems and obstacles of mediation by the conciliators at the Court of Justice; 2) to study concepts of professional mediators of the private company called JAMS in California, the United States; and 3) to develop the dispute mediation of the Court of Justice to be more effective. The study applied a qualitative research by way of documentary research and in-depth interviews with experts on dispute mediation. A sample group consisted of judges at the Court of Justice, administrators who had authorities to formulate policies, government employees who had served more than 20 years at the Court of Justice, high-ranking administrators at the Court of Justice, conciliators, senior lawyers who had more than 20 years of experience, scholars, senior lecturers, doctors, and businessmen in a public limited company.

            From the study, it is found as follows:1) The conciliators at the Court of Justice that are appointed by the Court for the disputing parties still have many limitations in mediating cases with high monetary claims which are usually complicated cases in both legal and technical aspects. This is due to the lack of development of knowledge in various fields and the conciliators are just outsourced personnel who volunteer to work, still their career is not a mediator where it requires full responsibility and dedication to performing the duties; therefore, the work does not contribute to the performance and development of their potential. 2) JAMS, founded in year B.E. 2522, one of the greatest private companies in the world that have provided dispute mediation services approximately 12,000 cases per year (as of B.E. 2557), in which 70 % of them are civil dispute, commercial dispute, and intellectual property dispute. The strength of the company is personnel where there are mediators who are senior with experience in both knowledge and a wide range of expertise to respond to the needs of the disputing parties. There are also rules and processes that are systematic, as well as having a training and development department for mediators called “JAMS Training & Development Department” which creates a culture of lifelong learning. 3) There should be an arrangement of professional mediators at the Court of Justice which is the development of dispute mediation to be more effective and be an alternative channel for the disputing parties other than the service of a conciliator. In this regard, there must be an establishment of the Association of Thai Professional Mediator (ATPM) to set up rules and the mediation processes to be more systematic with more professional standards whether in ethics or the competencies of professional mediators as well as monitoring and evaluating the performance.