Minimizing the emergence of hotspots through mediation.

Resolving conflicts and disputes promptly.

In Pha Bun village, Huoi Tu commune (Ky Son district), Mr. Ho Tong Lau has served as village head for 25 years. For the same number of years, he and the village's mediation team have successfully resolved many conflicts within the village. Village head Ho Tong Lau stated: "Many times, even very minor issues can lead to arguments, conflicts, and lawsuits because villagers don't know how to distinguish right from wrong, destroying unity... To resolve conflicts, the village's officials and mediation team always listen, understand the situation, and analyze both the logic and the emotions to ensure both sides are satisfied."

For example, in 2023, due to a conflict during a feast and drinking session, a fight broke out between Mr. Ly Va D. and Mr. Lau Cho V., which subsequently led to a lawsuit. The village head of Ho Tong Lau and the village's mediation team invited a respected village elder and the relevant parties to the community cultural center for mediation. Both sides then agreed to live in harmony and maintain unity within the village...
According to the leaders of Huoi Tu commune People's Committee, effectively promoting the role of mediation teams is a crucial factor in resolving conflicts, disputes, and disagreements within the community, limiting the number of complaints and appeals to higher levels. In fact, in recent years, conflicts within villages have been promptly resolved by these grassroots mediation teams, thus strengthening and consolidating community bonds.

In many localities, mediation work is receiving increasing attention, thereby contributing to limiting the emergence of hotspots, preventing and minimizing violations of the law, and ensuring security and order in the area.

In Dien Chau district, the Party committee and local government have directed the implementation of many comprehensive solutions to improve the quality and effectiveness of grassroots mediation work. As a result, the success rate of mediation has steadily increased. Over the past 10 years, the entire district has received 1,324 cases for mediation, with a success rate of 81.34%.

According to Ms. Hoang Thi Xuyen, Head of the Justice Department of Dien Chau District: Along with training and professional development for mediators, in 2023, the Justice Department advised the Dien Chau District People's Committee to issue a plan to build and expand the "Mediation at the Grassroots Level" club model in the district. To date, all 37 communes and towns have launched these clubs; becoming a forum for mediators to exchange experiences, share knowledge, and guide and support each other in resolving cases more effectively.

Furthermore, to improve dispute resolution (especially land disputes) at the grassroots level and reduce the number of cases referred to higher authorities and taken to court, the Department of Justice advised the District People's Committee to sign a cooperation agreement between the District People's Court and the People's Committees of communes and towns in the district. Accordingly, they leveraged the support of the District People's Court in conducting mediation work at the village and hamlet levels, and in resolving land disputes under the jurisdiction of the commune-level People's Committees.

Similarly, in the mountainous district of Quỳ Hợp, since 2022, a coordination regulation has been signed between the District People's Court and the People's Committees of communes and towns, and a coordination regulation between the District People's Committee and the District People's Court and People's Procuracy in handling and resolving disputes. Based on these two regulations, the district issued Decision 827 to establish a special task force to carry out these tasks.

Mr. Vy Hoang Ha, Head of the Justice Department of Quy Hop District, said: Currently, there are 214 grassroots mediation teams in the district, with 1,546 mediators. When the special task force comes to work in the locality, they invite grassroots mediators to participate, both to help resolve cases and to create opportunities for mediators to learn and improve their mediation skills. Thanks to this, the annual success rate of mediation reaches 70%.

LookIn general, over the past 10 years, the implementation of the Law on Mediation at the grassroots level in Nghe An province has always received attention and guidance from Party committees and authorities at all levels. This has had a positive impact on social life, creating a complete, comprehensive, and solid legal basis for grassroots mediation activities to become more orderly, unified, and effective, contributing positively to ensuring security, order, and social safety in the locality.

Currently, the province has 3,870 mediation teams with 26,402 mediators; 55 grassroots mediation clubs, model mediation teams, community mediation teams, etc. The annual success rate of mediation reaches 70-85% or higher.

Removing difficulties and obstacles

Despite significant progress, the implementation of the Law on Grassroots Mediation in the province still faces some shortcomings and limitations: Mediators often hold multiple positions, resulting in insufficient time dedicated to mediation work.

The educational level, legal knowledge, skills, and mediation expertise of some mediators are still low, failing to attract legal professionals to participate (for example, in Dien Chau district, out of 1,400 mediators, only 51 have legal expertise, accounting for 3.6%), resulting in low mediation quality. Disputes are becoming increasingly diverse and complex, especially land disputes, while the limited qualifications of mediators make mediation activities more difficult.

For example, in Quy Hop district, the head of the district's Justice Department stated that the biggest and most common obstacle in grassroots mediation is land and forest disputes. In reality, there is often a discrepancy between the actual land boundaries (the actual farming practices) and the documents and records. This is because the land allocation process under Decree 163 was previously carried out by consulting companies hired by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment. The consultants' land measurements were often inaccurate, either on actual terrain or in forests and mountains, resulting in inaccurate boundaries and markers for the land parcels.

Therefore, it is proposed that the Provincial People's Committee and competent authorities conduct a project to review, measure, and reissue Certificates of Land Use Rights for forestry land to the people, ensuring that the certificates accurately reflect the actual area being cultivated, thereby minimizing conflicts and disputes over forest land.

Regarding state management, some local Party committees and authorities have not paid sufficient attention to the importance of mediation work. Most localities are still struggling to determine the funding for mediation in their annual budget estimates, and the mobilization of social resources for grassroots mediation has not been effectively implemented. Some specialized officials at the commune, ward, and town levels have not adequately advised the People's Committees at the same level on grassroots mediation, and still harbor a mentality of waiting and relying on directives from higher levels…

To ensure that grassroots mediation work is more effective and meets practical requirements, according to Ms. Hoang Thi Thu Trang, Director of the Nghe An Department of Justice, it is necessary to improve the quality of activities and advisory work of judicial officers at the ward, commune, and town levels. Regularly strengthen and consolidate the team of mediators, and provide training and professional development in law and mediation skills for them. Continue to encourage and promote the role of the people in mediation work, as the nature of mediation teams is that of self-governing organizations of the people. In addition, mobilize legal experts, lawyers, judges, people's assessors, retired officials, etc., to participate in supporting mediators in grassroots mediation activities to improve the quality of mediation.

On the other hand, Party committees, governments, departments, and mass organizations at all levels need to recognize that grassroots mediation is a task for the entire political system and society, not just the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice, judicial officials, or mediation teams and mediators.

Based on the experience gained over 10 years of implementing the Law on Grassroots Mediation, Nghe An province also proposed to the Government to amend the regulations on the procedures for electing mediators in Joint Resolution No. 01/2014 in a simpler direction, avoiding the bureaucratization of the election and recognition process, creating favorable conditions for organizing the election of mediators to ensure objectivity and accurately reflect the aspirations of the people...