NADR hold first meeting, aims to work with CSOs

THE newly-established National Authority for Alternative Dispute Resolution (NADR) held its first consultative meeting with more than 40 civil society organisations and development partners.

The January 15 meeting, organised by the authority in collaboration with OXFAM Cambodia, aimed to examine the possibility of cooperation with partners working on out-of-court dispute resolutions in Cambodia.

A January 16 Ministry of Justice press release announced that the meeting was chaired by Minister of Justice Koeut Rith, who also heads the new authority.

Rith explained that the meeting was held to examine the possibility of closer cooperation between the national authority and civil society, as well as development partners who are seeking out-of-court settlements for specific communities.

The minister noted that he considered civil society organisations and development partners to be important partners of the new national authority, especially when it came to achieving the mission of resolving disputes for local people, particularly in remote areas and with indigenous ethnic groups.

Chin Malin, ministry secretary of state and the authority’s secretary-general, explained that during the meeting, the role and functions of the authority was clarified to all of the attendees. In the past, some civil society organisations appeared to have an inaccurate understanding of the body’s role.

He said the meeting also highlighted several potential collaborative projects on conflict resolution in remote areas and for indigenous peoples, with several of the attendees expressing an interest in supporting various projects.

“The national authority will discuss these cases in detail with each of our partners who is interested in supporting us and working on these projects. This may take the form of technical assistance, legal standards, procedures, financial assistance or training materials,” he added.

Ny Sokha, president of rights group ADHOC, who also attended the meeting, believed that cooperation between the government and civil society organisations needed to be enhanced, especially regarding the alternative dispute resolution mechanism. He noted that the chairman of the national authority appeared to welcome broad cooperation with civil society.

“Going forward, the next step will be to consider how we can cooperate with the outof-court dispute resolution mechanism, in a way which benefits local people and communities,” he said.

He added that the authorities have not yet set out a specific cooperation mechanism, but had extended a welcome to any organisations that were prepared to assist them, whether financially, technically, materially, or through activities at the grassroots level.