Europe Day
9 May was declared Europe Day by the President of Ukraine in 2023. For the second year in a row, Ukraine celebrates this day together with the EU countries.
We have prepared several theses on mediation in the EU countries for you at the Euroquiz. Join us! It will take place from 9 to 15 May 2024.
Find more details on our Instagram page.
Also in May, expect a new initiative of the Ukrainian Mediation Academy ADR-Euro-Vision.
Results of the competition "My rights: Know, use, protect"
I would like to start by thanking everyone who took part in the competition, as well as the distinguished members of the jury who had to make a difficult choice among about 50 entries.
The winner of the competition is Yulia Boyko, a 4th year student of the Faculty of Judicial and International Law of the National University ‘Odesa Law Academy’.
Yulia created a game for children and teenagers to learn about human rights.
Congratulations to the winner and the runners-up!
The following works received the highest number of points and prizes among the other participants in the My Rights: Know, Use, Protect competition:
Potapkova Yuliia
1st year student of the Faculty of International Trade and Law, State University of Trade and Economics
Anastasiia Tkachenko
1st year student at the European University
Alina Romanenko, Maryna Davydenko, Victoria Stadnyk, Ivanna Skulynets
3rd year students of the Faculty of Sociology and Law, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute
Kateryna Synitska
co-authored with Anna Kukurudza,
Panchuk Kateryna
4th year students of the Faculty of Economics, Management and Law of the Vinnytsia Institute of Trade and Economics of the State University of Trade and Economics
Empathy in mediation: what is it?
Emotional empathyis based on the mechanisms of projection and imitation of motor and affective reactions of another person (desire to feel)
Cognitive empathy
based on intellectual processes - comparison, analogy, etc. (desire to understand)
Predictive empathy
is the ability of a person to predict the affective reactions of another person in specific situations
How to demonstrate empathy?
Empathetic statements
For example, you could say, ‘I can see how this situation has affected you,’ ‘You seem to be feeling frustrated by what happened,’ ‘I appreciate your courage in speaking up,’ etc.
Non-verbal cues
Non-verbal cues contribute to building rapport with customers. They can help you to show empathy by reinforcing it with verbal messages, and emphasise your attentiveness and engagement.
Avoid empathy blockers
These are words or actions that prevent empathy from emerging, which affects the formation of trust and reduces the chances of resolving the problem.
For example, criticism, devaluation, accusations, interruptions, jumping off the topic, turning the conversation into a personal one, sarcasm, irony, etc.
It is also dangerous to let your own prejudices and the conclusions you draw from them run wild, instead of paying maximum attention to the other person, their emotions and feelings.
Global Mediation View
ANA SAMBOLD
California-based attorney, mediator and arbitrator
Ana Sambold is the Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Dispute Resolution for 2023-2024. She is a well-known figure in the field of dispute resolution as an attorney, mediator and arbitrator in California.
In the summer of 2023, Ana was a speaker at the Seventh International Forum ‘Mediation and Law’.
Myths and truths about online mediation by Ana Sambold
The parties behave more balanced
In the conversation, the mediators find an explanation for this: when a person sees himself, he subconsciously watches his actions so as not to ‘look bad’. In addition, the person on the screen perceives themselves as if they are on a film set, as if many more people can see them, and therefore it is better to look more polite.
It is difficult to follow the facial expressions of the parties in online mediation
Based on her experience, Ana argues that it is much easier to monitor the facial expressions of the parties in online mediation. One of the advantages of online mediation is that people are less likely to ‘put on masks’ and hide their facial expressions, as they do when they enter a mediator's office.
Seeing yourself on the screen is distracting
The mediator's task is to immerse the parties in the procedure and to understand well how to technically organise the process (turn on/off microphones, cameras, create rooms for individual meetings, etc.) so that the parties are active participants in the mediation.
Online mediation is easier to organise
In her mediation practice, Ana had two cases from the labour and criminal spheres at the same time: two employees of two different companies approached her as a mediator. It turned out that they both had the same lawyer. Therefore, a preliminary meeting on two different cases was held simultaneously in the Zuma, but in different session rooms.