Written Answer by Law Minister K Shanmugam to Parliamentary Question on Community Mediation

20 Jul 2009 Posted in Parliamentary speeches and responses

Dr Fatimah Lateef, Member of Parliament, Marine Parade GRC

Question:

To ask the Minister for Law:

1. What is the number of cases referred to the Community Mediation Centre annually for the last two years;
2. What is the breakdown for the common cases referred, and
3. How many were successfully mediated and how many proceeded with legal course of action following the mediation.

Answer :

1. What is the number of cases referred to the Community Mediation Centre annually for the last two years?
   
   In 2007, 1,488 cases were registered for mediation at the Community Mediation Centre (CMC). In 2008, this figure increased by approximately 10 per cent to 1,641. 91 per cent of these cases were channeled to the CMC through referrals by frontline public agencies such as the Housing & Development Board, the Police, the Courts and through Members of Parliament.
2. What is the breakdown for the common cases referred?
   
   A majority of the cases handled by the CMC in 2007 and 2008 involved disputes between neighbours, which formed approximately 54 per cent of CMC's total caseload for the two years. Approximately 22 per cent of the disputes involved conflicts between family members (13 per cent) and disputes between acquaintances (nine per cent), typically pertaining to relational and monetary matters. The remaining 24 per cent involved relational conflicts involving mainly landlords and tenants, and disputes between hawkers and between colleagues.
3. How many were successfully mediated and how many proceeded with legal course of action following the mediation?
   
   A total of 539 and 684 or about 39 per cent of all registered cases in 2007 and 2008 proceeded to mediation [1]. Of those cases that were mediated, about three in four cases were successfully resolved through the signing of a settlement agreement.As parties who choose to bring their disputes to the Court would usually approach the Courts directly, the CMC does not have exact statistics relating to the number of mediated cases that proceeded with legal action. However, based on CMC's records, the recidivism rate for CMC mediated settlements, where parties seek to re-open the mediation process to further negotiate or work through the terms of the settlement, is fairly low, at approximately two per cent. In this regard, parties who are unhappy with their mediated settlements are strongly encouraged to meet for a further mediation session at the CMC to work through their differences, before considering further courses of action.

Last updated on 27 Nov 2012