Alternative Dispute Resolution

Over the past three decades, Cameroon has been struggling to emerge from a cycle of internal conflicts and poor governance that has devastated its economy and inflicted severe hardship on its population. It has suffered mainly from poor political governance, in particular the poor political use of public institutions, which has contributed to weakening the rule of law and undermining its credibility. Weaknesses in respect for the rule of law and basic liberties have led to corruption, insecurity and jungle justice, and have discouraged productive investments by the private sector.

The aim of this program is to develop an out of the court conflict resolution mechanism for settlement of individual, community and commercial disputes and helping to establish a climate conducive to private investment. This project seeks to respond to the absence of a functioning rule of law institutions and mechanisms for management and resolution of disputes by providing the private sector with a non-litigious approach for settlement of disputes.

The programme also generally has a focus on the modernization of legislative frameworks and building local capacity through the establishment and strengthening of Centers of Arbitration and Mediation (CAMs) especially in the many rural communities without courts.

The programme also aims to reduce the number of cases before the few courts and magistrates; reduce movement of indigent farmers from their villages to courts in urban centres; reduce the number of persons in awaiting trial and thus decongest them; and also allow for enough time for the courts to effectively consider the cases before them.

Read about our Committees for Arbitration and Mediation

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