The mediation team - where are the people's 'arbitrators'?

Illustration, source Internet.

Over the past several years, public opinion across the country has been shaken by heartbreaking, shocking and terrifying massacres in many localities. Among them are many particularly serious cases in which the perpetrators and victims are all members of the same family, siblings, fathers and sons, husbands and wives, etc.

The cause of many incidents stems from family conflicts such as: land disputes, unhappy marriages, debts... When the conflict reaches its peak, and a murder occurs, everything is cleared up. And at this time, many people wonder: Where are the grassroots cadres, where are the neighborhood groups, where are the community mediation groups?

The mediation team is considered the "arbitrator" to resolve conflicts arising at the grassroots level. Illustration, source Internet.

The reality of management work at the grassroots level shows that, in addition to members of the Party Committee, the executive committee (or management board) also has members and mass organizations such as: the Front working committee (team), youth union branch, veteran association branch, women's association, farmers' association, residential group, reconciliation group...

That means that in villages, blocks, hamlets, and residential areas, there are all the components of the committee participating in community work through propaganda and mobilizing people to implement the Party's policies and the State's laws. These organizations also monitor and supervise people's lives to find solutions to stabilize the locality, contributing to promoting the development of each locality.

As for the residential mediation team (or committee, team), the team members can also be members of other branches operating under the leadership and guidance of the Party cell, executive committee and working committee of the grassroots Front. In fact, the establishment and operation of the mediation team are also regulated through the Mediation Law of 2013. Nothing else - the function of the mediation team is to grasp the thoughts and aspirations of the people to promptly reflect them to the grassroots Party committee.

Especially participating in resolving conflicts between households and families in the community. In reality, many small conflicts arising from internal life have been resolved after the participation of the mediation team in mobilizing and explaining. Remember, if conflicts, even trivial ones, are not resolved thoroughly and reasonably, they will be a hidden danger in the future.

Leaders of Nghe An Department of Justice talk with mediators in Do Luong district. Photo: Archive

However, after the tragedies such as: a brother murdered his brother's family in Dan Phuong district - Hanoi, a brother brutally murdered his sister's family in Thai Nguyen city, or many other criminal cases arising from residential areas, people have not seen the shadow of the mediation force. Is it possible that the activities of the mediation team are gradually fading away, becoming weaker in the face of rapid changes in life, or perhaps no one wants to "eat at home and carry the prison and the village", or perhaps this job for many people will be "not the head but the ears"...? Meanwhile, the participants in the mediation team have almost no allowance but mainly rely on their enthusiasm and sense of responsibility to the community. Most of them are party members assigned this task by the grassroots party committee.

Not being able to grasp the changes in life, not being close to the grassroots, not understanding the conflicts in residential areas and not being able to come up with a thorough solution to hot spots can be the reasons for the outbreak of unfortunate incidents. A few years ago in Vinh city, the press reported a suicide case of a woman. She rented a room at a motel and committed suicide there. According to the suicide note left behind, this woman committed suicide because she did not know where to turn when her husband left her, her child was sick and she had no money to pay for treatment. People also told each other about another heartbreaking incident that happened in the Southwest: A woman committed suicide to get money from the funeral to pay for her child's medical treatment...

Is that enough to see the tragic hidden corners of life? If the reconciliation teams, boards, and members at the grassroots level had grasped and intervened sooner, life would have been more peaceful and less painful.