Grassroots Mediation Law: Comprehensive reform to synchronize with modern government and community engagement

Since its promulgation in 2013, the Law on Grassroots Mediation has affirmed its role as a “string” connecting neighborhood relations and effectively resolving millions of community conflicts right from their early stages. However, in practice, the law has revealed certain limitations and has not kept pace with the rapid changes in socio-economic life.

As Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Thanh Ngoc emphasized the role of the Law on Grassroots Mediation in the current political and social life, after nearly 12 years of implementation, the Law on Grassroots Mediation has helped to consolidate the great national unity bloc and ensure social security and order. However, alongside the achievements, there are also difficulties and obstacles that need to be amended and supplemented to the Law to suit the new situation.

At recent legal forums, many experts and people working in mediation have frankly pointed out "bottlenecks" such as the rigid scope of mediation, the lack of flexibility in organizational models, and especially the limited incentives and benefits for mediators, which fail to provide sufficient motivation for their continued dedication.

The reform and construction of a socialist rule-of-law state in Vietnam is taking place strongly with the arrangement and streamlining of the administrative apparatus and piloting the urban government model in major cities. This new context raises an urgent need to amend the Law on Grassroots Mediation accordingly.

According to Deputy Director of the Department of Legal Dissemination, Education and Legal Aid Ngo Quynh Hoa, grassroots mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution that has been increasingly valued and prioritized.

In major cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, the urban government model has been implemented, in which the People's Council (PC) is not organized at the ward level. This has created a legal gap in the supervision, management and facilitation of mediation teams, which previously had the participation of the People's Council of the ward. Therefore, the amended law needs to clearly stipulate the new management, direction and coordination mechanism of the People's Committees at all levels for mediation work, ensuring that this activity is not disrupted and becomes increasingly effective in the new government structure.

The process of merging and adjusting the administrative boundaries of communes, villages and residential groups is taking place across the country. The amended law needs to introduce flexible and guiding provisions for reorganizing and consolidating mediation teams within newly established administrative units, so as to avoid disruption and maintain the stability of the grassroots mediator network.

In line with the policy of building an e-Government and digital administration, the application of information technology to mediation work is an inevitable trend. The new law needs to establish a legal corridor to build a national database on mediation to manage mediators information, monitor activities and compile statistics on mediation cases nationwide.

Applying scientific and technological achievements to help mediators across the country, including remote areas, easily access legal knowledge and updated skills. As well as consulting, guiding and piloting mediation of some simple cases online.