Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Professor Sir Kenneth Hall (left), welcoming Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Dispute Resolution Foundation, Donna Parchment (right), at King’s House today (January 6), while Chairman of the Foundation, Novar McDonald (centre), looks on. Occasion was the reading of a proclamation by the Governor-General, declaring 2009 as the ‘National Year of Dispute Resolution’.
At a ceremony, held today (January 6), at King’s House, the Dispute Resolution Foundation was presented with a copy of the proclamation by the Governor-General.
Professor Hall encouraged the Foundation to continue its good work in conflict resolution.
“This is my year of advocating for indigenous institutions and solutions…our indigenous institutions ought to be encouraged and I think this Foundation is clearly one in the justice area, where you have sought and found ways of providing means to access justice,” the Governor-General said.
He commended the Foundation for promoting concepts and providing processes and programmes for mediation, arbitration, restorative justice and deliberative dialogue, through its work with the Government, international development partners, the Police, Justices of the Peace, the courts, citizens, business and civic society across Jamaica.
The Governor-General urged all Jamaicans to “support this important effort to strengthen the relationships within Jamaica, to move as close to justice, peace and development for all.”
Chairman of the Foundation, Novar McDonald, expressed gratitude for the proclamation, noting that this is the second such declaration, the first being 2004.
“Between then and now.several achievements have been realised. We’ve moved the Foundation from a state of, perhaps, obscurity to one of national prominence, in that we have now become an automatic referral resource for the court system. And, as we move from this mile post, we will continue to intensify this and expand the scope of the Foundation,” the Chairman asserted.
The Dispute Resolution Foundation was incorporated in 1994, to accommodate non-violent relationships between citizens, corporations and other organisations, within a democratic and restorative justice framework, by strengthening and expanding the use of mediation and other alternative methods of preventing and dissolving disputes in Jamaica and the region.