Mandatory pre-judicial mediation

Abstract

In the Ecuadorian State, mediation is conceived as an alternative method of conflict resolution, which is endowed with a series of advantages within the framework of the culture of dialogue, which has been implemented as a factor to meet the growing demand for adversarial cases in the ordinary administration of justice. The purpose of this article is to analyze the relevance or not of making mediation mandatory and maintaining the characteristics of this method, such as voluntariness. For this purpose, a literature review method was used, with a qualitative approach to the subject. The results show benefits for the system of administration of justice, with the decongestion of incoming cases and the promotion of criteria of speed, procedural economy, which maintains the voluntary nature of mediation, since the parties retain the autonomy to reach and define agreements with the support of a neutral third party, externalized in a record, with total or partial agreements without restriction of rights and except for the possibility of signing a record of impossibility of agreement, so that the parties are enabled for judicial activation. All this evidences the timeliness and relevance of the analysis for its implementation in the contemporary Ecuadorian context.