In een redactioneel artikel geeft de redactie een toelichting op het tijdschriftnummer in kwestie.

In 2008, Ruud Lubbers led a mediation process to resolve the conflicts which had arisen between two Dutch campaigning organisations, various Indian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and labour unions, two Dutch internet providers, an Indian clothing producer and a Dutch jeans brand. The mediation took place at the request of the disagreeing parties and the Dutch and Indian governments. The conflict related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) standards followed by the textile companies.In this contribution the effects of campaigning and litigating in issues concerning CSR will be examined. Limiting the analysis to CSR conflicts in the textile industry, the author will reflect on these new types of international conflicts in a globalising world and will share her view on appropriate ways to avoid them or, ultimately, to (re)mediate them if necessary.This contribution informs the reader about the events in India and the Netherlands which led to the escalation of the conflict. It provides an overview of the conflict resolution procedures and elaborates on the outcome of the ‘Lubbers Mediation’. The applicable legal and soft law labour standards are compared as well as the parties’ communication strategies. Lastly, this case is contrasted with other CSR conflicts in the textile industry, revealing a hidden conflict.

In this contribution some aspects of the pluralistic society and its impact on mediation are discussed. For that purpose, first the focus is in on what is generally understood by ‘culture’ and ‘conflict’, followed by a description of communication problems that might arise in (mediation)situations with a particular cultural dimension. Next the question is posed to what extent a mediator should be susceptible for cultural dimensions in conflicts to perform his job well. And if he is prepared to do so, what pitfalls and challenges he should be prepared for?

In September 2008 a new clause on expedited proceedings was added to the arbitration rules of the German Deutsche Institution für Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit (German Institution of Arbitration). The inclusion of the new clause is a response to the (general) criticism regarding the length of some arbitral proceedings in recent years.In Finland mediation is inter alia offered by members of the bar associaton. This practice of mediation is briefly discussed together with some highlights of the Finnish court-annexed mediation programme, which is based on the Act on court-annexed mediation of 1 January 2006.In Russia the working group of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry drafted the Law on Mediation (referred to as Draft Law). The Draft Law is based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International and Commercial Conciliation of 2002 and was submitted to the state Parliament on 12 December 2006. As yet, there is no statutory mediation in place.

From 15 to 18 April 2009 the Dispute Resolution Section of the American Bar Association organized its 11^th ADR conference. The title of the conference was ‘ADR: Building Bridges to a better Society’. There was a wide array of workshops (50 in total) out of which the participants could choose, such as ‘Yes! Corporate America still uses ADR’, ‘Access to ADR for people with disabilities’, ‘ADR ethics from A to Z’, ‘Arbitrator and mediator liability’, ‘How much confidentiality in mediation enough?’, ‘Integrating ADR, families and social service systems’, ‘School mediation misses the mark’, ‘War, negotiation and leadership: lessons for mediators’. In addition to the workshops the participants could attend the ‘Annual Symposium on ADR in the Courts’ and the ‘Legal Educators Colloquium’. The participants – fortunately! – were provided with a CD-ROM with on it all the conference information and papers.