A congratulatory message from Dutch mediators
In the year 2021 a group of 15 people from Azerbaijan came to Holland. It was for the EU-project “Mediats”. The project was aming to enhance the level of mediation in all participating countries, exchange experience and set up master programs at the universities. I didn’t know any of the participants, but now many are real good friends. There was one person in particular that I considered to be extremely motivated. So it was very unfortunate that he had to stay two weeks longer because of Corona. But it gave us the change to become real good friends. This person was Qasim Shaliyev.
His initiative to really go for mediation and bring it to a more professional level in Azerbaijan was a big step forward. Mediasiya15 is a wonderful initiative of really dedicated people that have a heart for mediation.
The system in the Netherlands is based the philosophy that mediation should not be restricted to the legal profession. Every person has a lot of conflicts. Maybe even daily. But we almost never go to court for it. Thinks about trouble in working teams, between colleagues, neighbors, friends, families, sports organizations and so many more.pillar And to solve them you need mediators with all kind of backgrounds; psychologists, financial people, governmental background, lawyers, and even kids. So basically all disciplines and backgrounds can be necessary, the case will decide what mediator will fit best.
Internationalization helps to develop mediation much faster, and bring it to the next level. In the Netherlands it is already accepted by society as the basis to solve conflicts. Every year some 200,000 mediations take place, and more than a million informal mediations.
I hope Mediasiya15 will be one of the institutes that will make this happen. They are doing amazing work, and I hope they can keep on boosting mediation in the country. We are more than pleased if we can help a little bit to achieve this. We will bring trainings together and keep exchanging knowledge and experiences. Hope I will come to visit you so we can shake hands again, and maybe discuss some more exciting activities!
Congratulations to the organization!
Prof. Jan van Zwieten
Rector of Netherlands Business Academy
15 May 2025