Question 1

Who started conflicool and why?

Accepted Answer

conflicool was created on the initiative of a group of accredited mediators, lawyers and developers to encourage the adoption of mediation in the wake of the new law of 2018 (coming into force in 2019).

The question must be asked: did the mediators behind the initiative launch it with the unacknowledged aim of channelling mediator missions towards themselves?

No

As strange as it may seem, the idea was born from the observation that it is not +/- 5,000 mediations that should take place each year in Belgium (although the Belgian is the second largest "litigator" among the 47 countries analysed by the Council of Europe) but at least 10 times more! It is therefore the mediation market that has to grow before each mediator tries to increase his or her share of this market.

conflicool therefore comes with a disruptive approach: next to judicial mediation (which conflicool can and wants to help) there is extrajudicial mediation but whose development still depends essentially on the actors of justice. Indeed, extrajudicial mediation is in fact very "judicialised" in its functioning, for example because it is only at the stage of a summons to appear in court or during a trial that the parties finally decide to leave the classical channel of justice. The conflicool has been designed as a platform where the supply (mediators) and demand (litigants) of amicable conflict resolution meet. In this sense, conflicool, without dethroning the "historical" channel that feeds the mediation market (in this case the world of justice in the broad sense), creates a new one that is called upon, not to compete with it, but to collaborate with it.

Question 2

You chose to focus on the selection of the mediator, why?

Accepted Answer

For two main reasons:

Firstly, because the first step - the appointment of the mediator - is crucial to starting a mediation. The conflicool wants to make it extremely easy, quick and transparent so that the parties in conflict can begin their mediation in the best possible conditions and in complete confidence.

Secondly - and this may seem strange - statistics prove that it is neither the age, gender nor experience of an ombudsman that determines his or her success rate, and there are at least three reasons for this:
-	It is not the mediator's mediation but that of the parties: his role is limited to setting the framework, trying to re-establish a constructive dialogue between the parties;
-	Active listening and the mediator's ability to bring out, in a neutral and impartial manner, the needs and interests of the parties are essential to the success of the mediation;
-	The conditions of comfort represented by the mediation room and its accessibility (proximity) play an important role.

It so happens that the first two reasons are met by the label of the status of accredited mediator, which is only obtained and maintained at the cost of major training efforts (initial and further training) under the ever more demanding supervision of the Federal Mediation Commission. The third reason is met by the conflicool algorithm which ensures that the mediator is approximately equidistant from the parties. Moreover, by joining conflicool, our mediators commit themselves to propose a framework adapted to mediation.

Question 3

conflicool claims to be independent and impartial. How can you be sure?

Accepted Answer

The commitment of independence and impartiality of conflicool is consubstantial to its foundation. This point is therefore unshakeable, for to fail to do so would be to lose the trust of the mediated and the mediators
Moreover, conflicool is intended to be a citizen's initiative for the benefit of those who are subject to the law. To betray their trust and that of the mediators would simply be suicidal. In a second phase of development, control mechanisms will be offered to both accredited mediators and justiciables to monitor the sound governance of the platform and the respect of its commitments

Dear accredited mediators

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