Informal Dispute Resolution

• General Assembly encouraged and institutionalized the use of informal dispute resolution through GA Resolutions and Statute of UN Dispute Tribunal

• In May, UNRWA launched its own Mediation Programme modeled after the UN’s

Area & International Staff Rule 111.1

1. A staff member who considers that his or her contract of employment or terms of appointment have been violated is encouraged to attempt to have the matter resolved informally.

2. Both the staff member and the Commissioner-General may initiate informal resolution including mediation of the issues involved at any time before or after the staff member chooses to pursue the matter formally.

3. The conduct of informal resolution, including mediation, may result in the extension of deadlines applicable to decision review and to the filing of an application with the UNRWA Dispute Tribunal

What is Mediation?

• Mediation is an informal process in which a trained neutral person, known as a Mediator, assists the parties to work toward a resolution of a dispute with the parties themselves remaining in control of the final decision.

Mediation at UNRWA

• 14 staff members have been appointed to the Panel of Mediators, 13 of which have received certification training in workplace mediation

• The 14 staff members include 7 area and 7 international staff members

• And consist of 6 men and 7 women• Fields and Staff Unions/Associations were consulted

in bringing consensus to the membership of the Panel

• Criteria: highest standards of impartiality, integrity and fairness; and excellent interpersonal, communication, analytical and problem-solving skills

mediation@unrwa.org1. LFO (Area) Ms. Suha Ismail, Deputy Chief Field Health Programme2. LFO (Int’l) Mr. David Sigurdsson, Operation Support Officer3. SARFO (Area) Mr. Issa Issa, Budget Officer4. SARFO (Area) Ms. Basma Qasmieh, Protocol Officer5. SARFO (Int’l) Mr. Roger Hearn, Director of UNRWA Affairs6. JFO (Area) Ms. Lubna Abu Wardeh, Field Admin Officer7. JFO (Int’l) Ms. Elaine Blair, Field Procurement & Logistics Officer8. GFO (Area) Dr. Ghadda al Jadba, Senior Medical Officer9. GFO (Int’l) Ms. Cathy Howard, Field Programme Support Officer10. WBFO (Area) Dr. Hasan Tabkhna, Field Office Performance Officer11. WBFO (Int’l) Ms. Mahmuda Ali, Operation Support Officer Team Leader12. HQG (Area) Mr. Majed El-Bayed, Head Staff Cost & Standards Budget

Section13. HQA (Int’l) Ms. Amy Schmidt, Monitoring & Evaluation Officer, RSSD14. HQA (Int’l) Mr. Kristijan Horvat, Deputy Chief Information Systems

Division

**external mediator may be appointed in certain cases

Features of Mediation Process

• The mediator is not a decision maker, but acts as a facilitator for the parties to come to an agreement.

• Mediation is a completely confidential process.• Mediation is a consensual process.• Any party to the dispute may initiate the informal

process at any stage during a dispute. • The formal appeals process will be suspended

until the mediation process is completed

Intranet

Visit:

http://intranet.unrwa.org/IDRD