Better training for mediators proposed

Efforts should be made to train and develop more professional mediators nationwide, said a top justice official.

“As China enters its new era, new types of disputes are emerging, calling for higher requirements on the quality and mediation skills of mediators,” said Minister of Justice Fu Zhenghua at a conference on people’s mediation work in Wenzhou of East China’s Zhejiang province on Thursday.

“Grassroots mediators belong to the category of people who know best how each dispute arises,” he said, adding that they should be better trained to enhance capabilities to defuse and handle disputes at the earliest possible moment.

Currently there are 3.67 million people’s mediators in China, including 3.17 million who work part time.

The nation issued a guideline in late April to improve its mediation teams, asking for more professional training and strict management of mediators.

The guideline requires legal departments and mediation committees to provide training programs for mediators.

Training in social development, law and policies, ethics, professional knowledge and mediation skills is preferred.

Besides, professionals such as lawyers, doctors, researchers and scholars, retired law practitioners -- including judges, procurators and police -- and retired officials are welcome to become mediators, said the guideline.

China has a “people's mediation” method to resolve civil and commercial disputes outside judicial proceedings. People’s mediation committees are found in villages and towns, as well as some enterprises and public institutions.

So far, China has 766,000 mediation committees, and about 9 million cases were settled through mediation every year.

Xinhua contributed to this story