PM hopes JPs will be involved in alternative dispute resolution

One of the things that this current administration hopes to do is have Justices of Peace play a role in alternative dispute resolution.

This was revealed by Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Amor Mottley, as she delivered a few remarks during the Swearing-In Ceremony of Justices of Peace, which took place at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on Wednesday night.

“One of the things that we have intended to do more of is alternative dispute resolution, which allows us to have people be able to resolve disputes among themselves without necessarily coming into the courts,” she said.

She explained that the current legal system in Barbados was primarily premised on an adversarial framework but believed that alternative dispute resolution needed to be explored.

“More and more, countries and communities in the world over are recognising that the ability to keep the community whole is what matters rather than the adversarial approach that declares victors over all else. And I say so, conscious that this is a change for us. We have a responsibility to keep the peace, but it requires a different approach,” she said.

“I hope that this Government can work with the Attorney General to create the opportunity for you [JPs] to play a deeper and greater role, not just those sworn in today but all those who belong to the class of JPs, to play a deeper and clearer role in the maintenance of peace, in the resolution of conflict, and in the building of the social capital of the communities – for too often much of what we hear and much of what we see is as a result of people not being able to resolve conflict easily and effectively.

“The system that we have has to be shaped to meet the needs of a 21st century Barbados with the confidence that just because we resolve disputes by means of an adversary system all of our lives – that is not the only way.”

The Prime Minister hoped that this alternative form of solving disputes would prove to be more beneficial and effective as regrettably, “we live in a world today where the consequences of those disputes now are far greater than they ever were, and the consequences of those disputes can sometimes even lead to the loss of life.”