6th Asia Pacific Mediation Forum Summit

6th Asia Pacific Mediation Forum Summit

Mediation in a Globalizing World: Challenges to Multi-Culturalism, Peace-Building, and Religious Tolerance

De La Salle University, Taft Avenue, Manila, Philippines
December 9-11, 2013

The Summit

On behalf of the committee responsible for convening the 2013 Asia Pacific Mediation Forum Summit – the Political Science Department of De La Salle University, in collaboration with the Asia Pacific Mediation Forum Executive Committee – it is my pleasure to provide information about the three-day APMF Summit in Manila, Philippines.

The main objective of the APMF Summit is to facilitate the exchange and development of knowledge, values and skills of mediation in any form including inter-cultural, interpersonal, inter-institutional and international, within and between the diverse countries and cultures in the Asia Pacific region through bi-annual conferences, which are held in the Asia-Pacific region with a different country taking responsibility for hosting each conference.

In 2013, the host of the APMF Summit is the Philippines, and the lead convenor is the De La Salle University. The aim of the upcoming Summit is to bring together and engage experienced conflict resolution and mediation practitioners, researchers, educators, trainers, civil society workers/practitioners, human rights activists, jurists, businessmen, and policy makers from different cultural, organizational and professional backgrounds who are culturally fluent, creative and innovative, want to contribute and build on their knowledge and expertise, and are prepared to play a leadership role in transforming the way that conflicts are handled in the Asia-Pacific region. The program of the 2013 APMF Summit includes three days of optional pre-Summit activities, and three days of combined paper presentations, round table discussions and mediation workshops at basic and intermediate levels.

The objectives of the Summit are as follows:

• To advance individual capacity and collaborations, build networks and promote cross-cultural awareness and understanding of mediation as well as of other conflict transformation processes across the Asia Pacific Region.
• To mine the collective depth and breadth of the delegates’ expertise in order to inspire strategies for change that can advance mediation and other conflict transformation processes with the end goal of promoting peace across the Asia Pacific region.
• To facilitate the development of effective themed action plans from cross-cutting and focused roundtable discussions that can be implemented by delegates and which have real potential to advance mediation and other conflict transformation processes in culturally fluent ways across Asia Pacific region.
• To inspire and support initiatives to advance mediation and other conflict transformation processes in the region.

The expected and prospective participants, speakers and other presenters at the Summit include individuals from the following sectors of countries in the Asia-Pacific region:

• The highest political, executive, legislative, and judicial government offices or departments of participating countries
• The business and private sector
• Civil society organizations (e.g. local NGOs and CBOs, INGOs, faith based organizations and IP organizations, among others)
• Inter-governmental bodies (e.g., UN Agencies, EU, ASEAN, World Bank and ADB, among others)

We would like to invite you to participate in the 2013 APMF Summit. For those who wish to present papers during the Summit, please refer to the ‘Call for Papers Concept Note’ below. Other relevant information about the Summit is also available here for your reference.
Details regarding the registration are available on this site (see below). A special conference website will be available soon which will have more information for registrants.
Should you have any inquiries, please feel free to contact the 2013 APMF Summit Committee via email at [email protected].
We are looking forward for your participation and attendance in the Summit.

Yours sincerely,

Rizal G. Buendia, PhD (Political Science)
Chair, 2013 APMF Steering Committee
Associate Professor
Political Science Department
De La Salle University
2401 Taft Avenue, Manila 1004, Philippines
Phone/Fax (63-2) 524-4611 ext 570

Abstracts for presentations

Prospective delegates of the Summit are invited to submit an abstract no more 500 words, and a short biography of no more than 500 words, on any of the above topics through [email protected]. The deadline for submission is the close of business, May 30, 2013 (Philippine time, GMT+8:00). Accepted abstracts will be announced on June 9, 2013. Please read the ‘Concept Note’ at the bottom of this notice before writing your abstract.

Please indicate the following in submitting your abstracts: a) name of author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of presentation (e) body of the abstract, and (f) key words. We will acknowledge receipt of all submitted abstracts, and authors of accepted abstracts will be duly notified via email. Papers judged to be of sufficient academic quality through a peer review process may be included in a post-Summit edited volume.

If you do not receive a reply from us regarding the acceptance of your abstract in the week following April 30, 2013, please contact us via email for your inquiries.

Pre-Summit Mediation Activities

December 6-8, 2013

Exposure trips will be organized for Summit registrants who wish to be exposed to the best practices in the field of mediation in the Philippines. These pre-summit trips will allow participants to have exchanges and conduct face-to-face dialogues with grassroots communities and local organizations that practice mediation in various areas of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, while serving as an opportunity to interact with and appreciate the cultural heritage of the Filipino people.

Registration for these pre-Summit activities is distinct from that of the APMF Summit proper. Details on the registration process and fees for the pre-Summit activities will be forthcoming on this and the new Summit website.

Registration

 

Downloads

• APMF Summit Registration Form
• AusAID International Seminar Support Scheme Application Form
• Summit Registration Fees

 

 

Contact the 6th APMF Summit Organizing Committee

For further inquiries about the next Conference, you may contact the 2013 APMF Steering Committee through:

Ms. Anna Malindog
Mobile phone: +63 2 9475521711
Email: [email protected] | [email protected]

Summit Registration Fees

ONLINE REGISTRATION FEES FOR THE SUMMIT

REGULAR RATES

Participant Categories	Standard Rate	Late Registration
Delegates from OECD Countries	US $ 500	US $ 550
Delegates from Non-OECD Countries	US $ 450	US $ 500
Local Philippine based Delegates	Php 4,500	Php 4,500

                        
STUDENT RATES:

Participant Categories	Standard Rate	Late Registration
Delegates from OECD Countries	US $ 250	US $ 300
Delegates from Non-OECD Countries	US $ 200	US $ 250
Local Philippine based Delegates	Php 1,500	Php 1,500

 

LATE/ON-SITE REGISTRATION FEES FOR THE SUMMIT

ON-SITE 
REGULAR RATES:

Participant Categories	Rates*
Delegates from OECD Countries	US $ 600
Delegates from Non-OECD Countries	US $ 550
Local Philippine based Delegates	Php 4,500

                        
STUDENT RATES:

Participant Categories	Rates*
Delegates from OECD Countries	US $ 330
Delegates from Non-OECD Countries	US $ 275
Local Philippine based Delegates	Php 1,500

*Includes 10% surcharge as processing fee. Summit registration fees cover conference day lunches, welcome cocktail party (gala dinner), coffee/tea at breaks, Summit publications, kits, and materials, hotel transfers to the venue, and a cultural evening at the venue. The fee also includes a two-year APMF membership. However, the registration fee does not include the cost of accommodation or the cost of the pre-Summit mediation activities (pre-mediation Summit field trips).  Registrants will be asked to complete an application form for membership of the APMF when they register which can then be forwarded to the Secretary/Treasurer of the APMF – Tony OGorman by email: [email protected] . The membership form can be accessed on the APMF website: http://www.asiapacificmediationforum.org

IMPORTANT DATES:

Early Registration online	March 9 – June 9, 2013
Regular Registration online	June 10 – October 9, 2013
Late Registration online	October 10 – November 9, 2013
Deadline of the Registration online	November 9, 2013
On-Site Registration	December 9, 2013

Registration fees can be paid through the following ways:

• Bank Deposit
• Paypal
• Wire Transfer
• On-Site Payment

Further details on the registration process will be provided on the conference website which will be launched soon.

Cancellation and Refund Deadline
Paid registrants may cancel their registration and receive a refund (less $20 administration fee) up until November 9, 2013. Cancellation and refund requests received after this deadline will no longer be entertained.

Call for APMF Peace Prize Nominations

Since its inception in 2001, the APMF has awarded a Peace Prize to individuals, groups or organizations that have had a significant impact on promoting peace in the Asia Pacific region. Previous APMF Peace Prize recipients include Jose Ramos-Horta, the Melanesian Peace Project, Dame Joan Metge and Sister Guilhermina, FdCC.

Continuing this tradition, the APMF Executive is pleased to officially open nominations for individuals or organizations deserving of the Peace Prize. Recipients of the Prize will obtain a certificate, trophy and a sum of money to further their efforts in promoting peace, as well as international recognition and exposure on the APMF website.

Peace Prize Nominators must be current APMF members.

Peace Prize Nominees: An organization, group or an individual located and advancing peace within the Asia Pacific Region. A prize nominee need not be an APMF member.
Further details regarding the APMF Peace Prize can be found on this APMF website (see the APMF Home Page). Please email the APMF President with the required information if you wish to nominate at individual, group or organization – [email protected]

Call for Papers ‘Concept Note’

Mediation in a Globalizing World: Challenges to Multiculturalism, Peacebuilding and Religious Tolerance

The serious contradictory outcomes brought about by globalization in human society – affluence and poverty, economic growth and deprivation, cultural homogeneity and increased awareness in socio-cultural heterogeneity, and ecological restitution and damages, among others – have divided the world between pro-globalization group and anti-globalization lobby. For over 20 years, scholars from various fields and disciplines have vigorously debated on issues and concerns confronting globalization focusing on its powerful economic, political, cultural, and social dimensions (Belk, 1996; Castells, 1996; Featherstone, 1990, 1995; Ger and Belk, 1996; Liebes and Katz, 1993; Robertson, 1992; Landes 1999; Sklair, 2002; Waters, 1995; Matei, 2006; Scholte 2000).

Anthony Giddens adds an important feature to the picture of globalization by describing it as having interactive and dialectical dimensions wherein worldwide social relations are intensified and “local transformations are lateral extensions of social connections across time and space… local happenings may move in an obverse direction from the very distanced relations that shape them” (1990: 64). Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winner in economics, sums up globalization itself as “neither good nor bad. It has the power to do enormous good. But in much of the world it has not brought comparable benefits. For many, it seems closer to an unmitigated disaster” (2002: 20). Barnet and Cavanagh (1994) contend that the process of globalization is inherently disruptive and that an increasing incidence of conflict is an inevitable bi-product of it. Globalization, thus, is both creative and destructive; it promotes security and increases risks; it makes the world smaller but disintegrates people; renders national borders irrelevant and yet tribalism of all kinds flourish and irredentism thrives.

The socio-cultural and politico-economic conflicts in the world made mediation in its various forms imperative. As argued by Mazzella (2004), mediation processes are abundant in the context of globalization. While Mazzella is interested in the processes of mediation in ethnography, he views the process of dialogues, which can have positive or negative results in the settlement of disputes, create more value than would have been created if the underlying dispute had not occurred.

Globalization and mediation are intricately interlinked. While the former generally refers to the process of international integration arising from the interchange of world views, products, ideas, and cultures; the latter relates to the process that leads institutions and individuals to reflect and react on a given social dispensation, identify their roles within it, and gives meaning and value to their everyday practices and participation in a specific set of modes of intercession. Globalization and mediation as social processes have influenced the quality of peoples’ lives; they contain far-reaching implications to virtually every facet of human life. Thus, they have to be viewed not simply as opportunities for countries and citizens to be mindful of the impact of their countries actions and policies, but also in shaping and reshaping social relations within all countries, and across sectors between and among countries.

Mediation, which broadly refers to any occurrence in which a third party helps others reach agreement, possesses a structure, timetable and dynamics that ordinary negotiation lacks. The process is voluntary, participatory, private, confidential, and possibly enforced by law; and the mediator acts as a neutral third party and facilitates rather than directs the process. In as much as all forms of mediations involve dual relations, processes and measures can be effective instruments not only in raising public and political awareness to respond to socio-cultural and political conflicts, environmental disasters, and inequalities. These also deal with disputes that employ approaches relevant to multiculturalism, peace building consensus, inter-faith discourses, and other discords that aid parties reach a settlement to address their differences amicably and in a just manner. In this regard, disputants may mediate disputes in a variety of domains, such as commercial, legal, diplomatic, workpl ace, community, as well as household.

The effectiveness or ineffectiveness of mediation measures in multiple domains depends much on the mediator’s skill and training. As the practice gained popularity, training programs, certifications, and licensing followed that produced trained, professional mediators committed to the discipline and vision in developing, refining, improving, and promoting a dispute management system capable of addressing conflicts and disputes in various fields.

As the pace of global change is accelerating over time and across space, tensions associated with social changes have been largely inevitable, some are undoubtedly creative in their effects. These put great stress on individuals, social institutions, and governments. Unless human needs and rights issues involved are not adequately addressed, the incidence and intensity of social conflict concomitant with globalization are likely to increase steadily in the years ahead. A comprehensive and an inclusive institutional and policy reforms have to done to help individuals and societies adjust to change. However, measures taken so far have not provided adequate solutions to the perceived and felt problems.

Indeed, if the processes, practices, and theories and concepts of mediation have to respond effectively and mitigate if not completely answer the multi-dimensional aspects of disputes, new thinking about these old questions is essential.

It is against this backdrop that the 6th Asia-Pacific Mediation Forum Conference is called.

References:

Barnet, R.J. and Cavanagh, J. 1994. Global Dreams: Imperial Corporations and the New World Order. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Belk, R.W., 1996. Hyperreality and globalization: culture in the age of Ronald McDonald. Journal of International Consumer Marketing 8 (3–4), 23–37.
Castells, M. 1996. The Rise of the Networked Society, Oxford: Blackwell.
Featherstone, M., 1990. Global Culture: Nationalism, Globalization, and Modernity. Sage Publications, London.
Featherstone, M., 1995. Undoing Culture: Globalization, Postmodernism and Identity. Sage Publications, London.
Ger, G., Belk, R.W., 1996. “I‘d like to buy the world a coke: consumptions capes of the ‘less affluent world’‘‘. Journal of Consumer Policy 19, 271–304.
Giddens, A. 1990. The Consequences of Modernity. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Landes, D. 1999. The Wealth and Poverty of Nations. Why some are so rich and some are so poor, London: Abacus.
Liebes, T., Katz, E., 1993. The Export of Meaning: Cross-cultural Readings of Dallas, second ed. Polity Press, Cambridge.
Matei, S.A. 2006. Globalization and heterogenization: Cultural and civilizational clustering in telecommunicative space (1989–1999) Telematics and Informatics 23 (2006) 316–331
Mazzarella, W. 2004. “Culture, Globalization, Mediation” Annual Review of Anthropology Vol. 33. pp. 345-367.
Scholte, J. A. 2000. Globalization. A critical introduction, London: Palgrave.
Sklair, L., 2002. Globalization: Capitalism and Its Alternatives, third ed. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
Stiglitz, J. 2002. Globalization and its Discontents. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.
Waters, M., 1995. Globalization. Routledge, London.

Contact the 6th APMF Summit Organizing Committee

For further inquiries about the next Conference, you may contact the 2013 APMF Steering Committee through:

Ms. Anna Malindog
Mobile phone: +63 2 9475521711
Email: [email protected] | [email protected]