Maldives signs UN mediation convention to settle trade disputes

Maldives, along with other United Nations members, has signed United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation”, or the “Singapore Convention on Mediation”.

While the People’s Majlis approved the decision to sign this treaty at Tuesday’s sitting with 74 votes, Attorney General Ibrahim Riffath signed the treaty on behalf of the government of Maldives, at a ceremony held in Singapore on Wednesday.

The United Nations adopted the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation during its general assembly in December 2018. While the government of Singapore had offered to host a signing ceremony, UN conventions are often named after the country or city where they are signed.

In a tweet posted after signing the treaty, AG Riffath said that he was “humbled and honoured” to sign the UN Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation.

According to the UN Commission on International Trade Law, the Convention is an instrument for the facilitation of international trade and the promotion of mediation as an alternative and effective method of resolving trade disputes.

46 UN member signed the treaty on Wednesday, which aims "to have a global framework that will give businesses greater confidence to settle international disputes through mediation rather than taking them to court, which can be obstructively time consuming and expensive."

It sets the standards for enforcing and invoking settlement agreements, the requirements for reliance on settlement agreements and the grounds for refusing to grant relief

While mediation is already used to settle commercial disputes in jurisdictions like the United States and the United Kingdom, it is not globally accepted.

UN hopes that the convention "will improve the credibility of mediation."