On 4 February 2011, after a period of 17 years, Migiel van Kinderen took formal leave as the Rotterdam ombudsman. In these 17 years he succeeded in introducing mediation as another and often more effective method of dealing with disputes between citizens and their government, despite the fact that there was no formal basis for settling this type of disputes through mediation. In the interview, the specific characteristics of this ‘ombudslike’ mediation are discussed.

When a lawyer has his/her intake meeting with a client and ponders whether the case is to be taken to court or whether it is appropriate for mediation, different parameters have to be considered.
Mr Green finds out that this photovoltaic installation does not produce the output initially guaranteed, and his lawyer will first have a look at the terms and conditions on guarantee and liability in the sales contract. The lawyer should consider time, cost, potential outcome and future relations between the parties, and compare these four parameters in a situation whereby proceedings in court are initiated with a situation whereby a mediation is started up. The assessment of each of these parameters in court proceedings and mediation is entirely different, and understanding these differences will assist in opting for court proceedings or mediation, or a combination of both. Reflexivity will be key.

In family law practice we are dealing increasingly with international aspects of broken relationships. Once children are involved, severe questions of habitual residence occur when one of the parties decides to return to his or her land of origin.Over the past years the 1980 Hague Abduction Convention has been criticised in the Netherlands, mostly because of the duration of such proceedings.In the Netherlands a change in legislation is now almost a fact, introducing a set of measures one of which is offering parents a Cross Border Mediation.This summer, The Hague Conference will come off with a ‘Guide of good practice’, to introduce Cross Border Mediation in international child abduction cases. The Netherlands stand out in having a Cross Borer Mediation system already integrated into their legal practice, soon to be legal system. So far the results have been evaluated positively in such a way that Cross Border Mediation should be considered as a useful tool in preventing abduction cases as well as in regular relocation cases.

In the Netherlands victim-offender mediation is scarcely organized. However, the Dutch criminal procedure does offer possibilities for the implementation of mediation. In this article four modalities are discussed. At the stage of police investigation the police can refer parties to a mediation service. At the stage of the prosecution the public prosecutor can offer mediation as a condition for dismissal. When the case has been laid before a Court, the parties can involve in mediation after the proceedings have been stayed. The result of the mediation can then be taken into account by the Judge in the penal decision. When it comes to the more serious offences there should be possibilities for mediation at the stage of the penal execution. However, because of the contrasts between the principles of mediation and the criminal procedure, all of the modalities will have to find a balance between these principles.

This article contains a report by the Dutch student team of its participation in the 6th ICC Mediation Competition in Paris.It gives an impression of the various mediation sessions, the mediation techniques used, what feedback was given, how the feedback was used in subsequent sessions, meetings with other students and teachers and a description of the general atmosphere.