Fifth International Forum on Online Dispute Resolution

Opening Address

by Daewon Choi

Chief, ICTP, UNESCAP

19 April 2007

Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the Fifth Annual Forum on Online Dispute Resolution (ODR), hosted by the University of Liverpool in collaboration with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

As you know, ODR is an important area as it is becoming a priority for governments eager to promote e-commerce and technological development. ODR serves to build trust in online and cross-border commercial activities through the smooth resolution of disputes that could arise from these activities: ODR is reducing the friction cost associated with electronic commerce and encouraging its growth.

ODR can contribute to a more open and non-discriminatory trading system – the key targets of the Millennium Development Goals approved by the United Nations General Assembly.

Yet, beyond providing viable solutions to the outstanding legal issues linked to the increased use of the Internet for business, I envision a novel and deeper role emerging for ODR as an agent of change to stimulate and accelerate structural and judiciary reforms in developing countries.

This would enable their legal systems stay up to date with the advancement in technology so that they could fully benefit from the Information Society.

Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Paragraph 13 of the Geneva Plan of Action of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) encourages "the ongoing work in the area of effective dispute settlement systems, notably Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), which can promote settlement of disputes."

And the WSIS went further, as Paragraph 36 of the Tunis Commitment states that the Members States "value the potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to promote peace and to prevent conflict which, inter alia, negatively affects achieving development goals.’

We can thus consider ODR as a tool not just for economic dispute resolutions, but as a tool for peace, health and social development.

Government ICT policies will therefore need to have ODR not only to advance the Internet economy, but more generally to serve as a tool to combat and bridge the justice divide through e-justice.

The challenge now is to shape these new capabilities so that they can work in harmony with, and not in opposition to, the social processes at work in the physical world.

Governments also have a role in helping the development of norms and standards for ODR. This translates into reasoning at the outset that the United Nations has an important role to play in shaping the development of global ODR.

It will be a catalyst for the effective implementation of ODR around the world, as one of the tools to achieve the internationally agreed development goals including the objectives of the. Millennium Declaration

Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today’s meeting in Liverpool has a particular significance for the global ODR community. Indeed, our ODR Forum has completed a same journey of Vasco Da Gama, travelling half way the globe. The journey started in Geneva, proceeded to Melbourne, anchored in Cairo, and now culminates in our meeting here in Liverpool which celebrates its 800 years of foundation.

In December this year, the next ODR Forum will be held Hong Kong. It is particularly timely as ODR is already playing an important and increasing role in Asia and the Pacific. The region is home to more than 60 per cent of the world's population, and its e-commerce and online activities are growing fast.

In the Asia and Pacific region, ODR also has an enhanced role as an empowerment tool for rural and poor people who have little access to dispute resolution by other means.

In return, the rest of the world will benefit, as the next generation of online dispute resolution systems emerge from Asia and the Pacific, that will reflect cultural diversity of the region, its unique socio-political textures, and the specificity of its ICT, more mobile phone oriented than PC oriented. Thus, the Hong Kong meeting will learn and benefit a lot from this Liverpool meeting.

Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am confident that this Forum will be a tremendous success and significantly contribute to the advancement of ODR through discussions on current challenges, best practices and technological innovations.

UNESCAP stands ready to support the Forum in its goal to develop ODR systems which can contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and the vision of the World Summit on the Information Society.

Finally, my special thanks go to the organizers of this meeting who have committed and dedicated themselves for this new journey. While Vasco was travelling with lex mercadoria some five hundred years ago, we are navigating with lex ODRia. On this chartered journey, we may be scripting a new chapter in cyberspace.

Thank you.