A Non Governmental Organisation, Relief International Africa, RIA, has urged its ambassadors to adopt Alternative Dispute Resolution, ADR, as a mechanism in addressing conflicts and bringing about peace in their areas of operations in Akwa Ibom.
It cautioned them against going to conventional courts in settling disputes stressing how cumbersome and time consuming the litigation process is in Nigeria.
These were part of resolutions taken at the end of a one day training for Relief Ambassadors and Human Rights Defenders in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital.
In a communique endorsed by the Executive Director of RIA, Green Isaac and issued to journalists on Saturday, the organisation cautioned the ambassadors against showing sentiments and being partial in their interventions, urging them to find out the root cause of disputes and facilitate peace process.
“We prefer Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism. For us, it’s better than going to court because in Nigeria, the litigation process is long. You don’t even need to go to conventional court anymore you must know the context of what you are working on, listen to stories of that community and dig deeper, only facilitate and don’t impose.
“Ambassadors should do what we do in focus group discussion, put the parties together and allow them express themselves satisfactorily, you can recommend a non binding outcome. Try to employ nonviolent advocacy through different platforms in the community.”
The communique also encouraged them to employ Early Warning, Early Response, EWER, systems in containing violent conflicts and not to allow situations to degenerate before intervening.
“Ambassadors should reject violence as a way of life and accept dialogue. Ambassadors should be disposed to deploying the problem tree approach of conflict analysis to enable them get to the roots of conflicts and effectively resolve them and reconcile individuals and groups.
“Peace ambassadors should engage a broad range of stakeholders(elders, youths,women, and local organizations) in their peace efforts. Ambassadors should master pre and post conflict mediation approaches,” the communique added.
