Faculty of Commerce, Management and Law

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Browsing Faculty of Commerce, Management and Law by Advisor "Awarab, M"

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    Promoting access to justice through court-connected mediation in Namibia: Prospects, challenges and opportunities
    (University of Namibia, 2025) Maass, Ane; Awarab, M
    Applying a qualitative approach, this study aimed to evaluate the prospects, challenges and opportunities of court-connected mediation in promoting access to justice in Namibia. It found that there are many obstacles to access to justice in Namibia which include a lack of knowledge on the rights granted to Namibians, prolonged adjudication, locus standi, costly legal proceedings and lastly, case backlog. An evaluation was conducted by studying the right of access to justice in Namibia and how the predominantly adversarial Namibian civil justice system currently operates to specifically highlight the hindrances to access to justice. It further sets out the growth and development of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), which incorporates the different forms and purposes of ADR, mediation as a general form of ADR. It explained and elaborated on court-connected mediation in Namibia. Furthermore, a comparative study was conducted on court-connected mediation in Tanzania and India to draw differences and similarities between the jurisdictions. Moreover, it concluded with recommendations on how court-connected mediation in Namibia can be improved. From an access to justice perspective, this study emphasised the need for Namibia to adapt its civil justice system in order to meet the ever-changing needs of the community it serves. As a result of this evaluation, the study concluded that ADR, and more specifically that court-connected mediation, can have a significant impact on the promotion of access to justice by aiding in the solution to the hindrances of such access to justice since the process is less costly, less time consuming and allows the disputing parties to take part in the process to settle their dispute. However, the study also indicated the limitations and challenges of an ADR system premised on court-connected mediation given the technical and adversarial nature of the Namibian legal system and the growing economic inequality between the rich and poor