Good morning, everyone

• On behalf of the United Nations Development Programme and the entire UN family in Georgia, it’s a true pleasure to welcome you to the second edition of “Tbilisi Mediation Days.”
  
  
• I’m delighted to join a distinguished panel that includes the Deputy Minister of Justice, the acting head of the Supreme Court and the Secretary of the High Council of Justice.
  
  
• And I’m also glad to have a chance to give thanks to our long-standing partners from the European Union and the UK, along with the Government of Sweden, for their support.
  
  
• This international conference, the second of its type since our debut event was held in 2016, comes just a week after a hugely successful international conference on legal aid here in Tbilisi, which UNDP had the honor to co-organize together with other UN and donor partners.
  
  
• Both events reflect our shared commitment to ensure equal access to justice for all.
  
  
• This ideal is a core component of the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs.
  
  
• Goal #16 of the 17 SDGs commits every country in the world to create an institutional structure that guarantees all people an equal opportunity to use the legal system to protect their rights.
  
  
• This event focuses squarely on the potential of mediation to expand access to justice. 
  
  
• Over the next two days, we’ll hear expert advice on how Georgia can use mediation to deliver justice in a variety of settings: in settling civil disputes; in resolving criminal cases; in avoiding conflicts over employment in the civil service; and in collective bargaining in the labor market.
  
  
• We welcome the more than 100 mediation experts and practitioners who have joined us from the UK, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and other places to share their expertise and experience.  
  
  
• We see mediation as a vital mechanism to be added to Georgia’s justice toolkit, since, by bypassing the overburdened court system, it provides ordinary citizens with a faster and cheaper way to have their grievances heard and secure fair resolutions to their disputes.
  
  
• In establishing mediation as a standard practice, Georgia can draw on ancient mountain traditions as well as a critical mass of recent preparatory work, much of it supported by UNDP.
  
  
• Building upon the success of the Tbilisi City Court Mediation Centre, where mediation has already been applied in 151 cases, promising pilot initiatives are under way in the Tbilisi, Rustavi and Gori courts.

• Nearly one thousand legal professionals have received training in mediation.
  
  
• And a draft Law on Mediation was a centrepiece of our first Tbilisi Mediation Days in 2016.
  
  
• To maintain this encouraging momentum, we at UNDP encourage the Ministry of Justice to submit the draft law for parliamentary approval as soon as possible.
   
• Mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution are particularly beneficial to those who lack the resources needed to fight for justice in the courts.
  
  
• It is thus a mechanism that can help in our broader quest to “leave no one behind.”
  
  
• We look forward to two days of fruitful discussion, and please count on UNDP’s continued support in ensuring that mediation becomes an everyday reality in Georgia’s justice system.

Thank you for coming.