The Permanent Mission of Switzerland has informed CERN that the Département des Institutions of the Republic and Canton of Geneva and the Groupement suisse des Magistrats pour la médiation (GEMME) - Swiss Association of Magistrates for Mediation have published a multilingual Practical Guide to Civil Mediation (including English).

In this context, the Swiss Mission has underlined the benefits of resorting to mediation, especially for the personnel of International Organizations, and which the Secretary-General of the GEMME has summarised as follows:

a)     it is a private process not requiring the waiver of the parties’ immunities;

b)    the confidentiality of the mediation process is guaranteed both by the mediator and the parties to it;

c)     the search for an amicable settlement does not need to be determined by reference to law (provided that public order is respected); 

d)    the process is faster (2 to 3 sessions), less costly and more flexible than civil or arbitration procedures;

e)     in order to reinforce the agreement and give it the force of a judgement for them, the parties may request it to be approved by the competent Courts of the Canton;

f)     to this is added the ethical and professional guarantee of accredited mediators on the official register of the Republic and Canton of Geneva, indicating their field of expertise and the language in which they work. 

The 2006 document is distributed by the GEMME, c/o the Commission de conciliation en matière de baux et loyers (7, rue des Chaudronniers, Case postale 3120, CH-1211 Genève 3). A multilingual edition is available online at: Gemme - Guide pratique de la médiation civile (cdn-website.com)