After the CFTA : Could African states seize the opportunities of the Singapore Convention on Mediation?

• Main Authors: Ng, Joel, Iyodu, Bernadette
• Other Authors: Nanyang Business School
• Format: Newsletter
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Business; Business::Law; Africa; Dispute Resolution
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/142621
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The UN Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation (known as the Singapore Convention on Mediation or SCM) was signed in Singapore on 7th August 2019 with eight of the 46 signatory countries coming from Africa. The Convention will allow parties to rely on a mediated settlement agreement (MSA) and enforce it across borders following simplified procedures. It will also increase the visibility of mediation and encourage its use as an international dispute resolution mechanism, moving past the more commonly-used routes of arbitration and litigation. Legal practitioners hope that this Convention will build international commercial mediation practice, which has lagged behind more traditional forms of dispute resolution such as international commercial arbitration. However, its potential is clearer for jurisdictions with well-established mediation practices already in place such as Europe, the US, and Asia. What potential does the SCM have for African states and businesses? This paper examines the opportunities it offers the African states that ratify it, as well as the support structures and other commitments that will enable the Convention to fulfil its full potential.