Mutandzi Akiza Matovelo[1]
Dubbed the Singapore Convention, by the UN General Assembly in appreciation of the Government of Singapore’s offer to host its signing, the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation was adopted through General Assembly resolution 73/198 dated 20th December, 2018 and was opened for signing on 7th August, 2019.
The international dispute resolution arena has for a long time had litigation and arbitration as the only mechanisms resulting to compulsorily enforceable decisions. Other mechanism employed in the same circle such as mediation, notwithstanding its variant nomenclatures, were not preferred for want of assured international enforceability. As part of his welcome message for the signing ceremony the Singapore Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law Mr. Shanmugam, K. SC is quoted to have opined that the “Singapore Convention on Mediation, is the missing piece in the international dispute resolution enforcement framework…”
The Convention was adopted to address the need for and the manner through which to internationally enforce agreements resulting from mediation and thus adding yet another reliable and potentially preferable mechanism for resolving international commercial disputed. Settlement agreements whose non-compliance would otherwise bring a cause of action for breach of contract can now, through the Singapore convention, be treated as independently enforceable without a need to pursue the same as a civil or commercial matter of contract breach. As assured as is the enforcement of a court judgment or an arbitral award, the Singapore Convention gives birth to such assurance with mediated settlement agreements.
At the moment the Singapore Convention has 52 signatories 11 of which are African Countries. From the East African Community, Uganda is the only signatory of the Convention leaving behind Tanzania and its other counter Partners to the Community. The third instrument of ratification of the Singapore Convention was deposited by Qatar on 12th March, 2020 and as per Article 14(1) of the Convention the Convention shall come into force 6 months therefrom, that is 12 September, 2020. The greater ratification of the Convention would invariably mean the application of the Convention across many nations which would inherently cause assured enforceability of mediated settlement agreements further advancing mediation as a reliable, effective and efficient way to amicably settle international commercial disputes.
[1] Author: Mutandzi Akiza Matovelo, Associate Director at iResolve, he is an Advocate of the High Court of Tanzania, gearing his expertise in commercial dispute resolution and is an alumni of the ILI, IATL, an associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and TIArb.
