The University of the West Indies, Fouillole Campus in Guadeloupe, organized an international symposium which took place on the 8th and 9th of February, 2024, on the theme “The Attractiveness of Business Law, the 21st Century Enterprise”. This event was sponsored by the Henri Capitant Association and organized under the auspices of the Center for Research in Economics and Law of Insular Development (CREDDI) under the scientific direction of Brigitte Facorat-Gaspard, Senior Lecturer in private law at the University of the West Indies, Guadeloupe pole, and head of the Master 2 business law program.

Held over two days, the conference brought together lawyers, jurists, professors, and other economic stakeholders from Guadeloupe, Guyana, Paris, Lyon, Montpellier, but also from Canada, Spain, and Lebanon around five themes:

• Attractiveness and flexibility of the law,
• Attractiveness and accessibility of the law,
• Attractiveness and legal security,
• Attractiveness and competitiveness of companies,
• Attractiveness and corporate social responsibility (CSR)

It was on this last theme that the CARO Center was invited to participate in a roundtable on the topic “Mediation and Arbitration, Supporting Business Competitiveness in the Caribbean”.

The CARO Center was represented by Solène Balaguette, Counsel at the CARO Center. She discussed the importance of access to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) services, crucial tools for integrating CSR into companies, as well as the actions undertaken by the CARO Center in support of institutions and businesses in the region since the launch of its services in 2021 (workshops, Post natural disaster mediation Rules, free mediation initiative, awareness webinars, etc.)

She was particularly keen to present the CARO Center's new innovative service, the “Conflict Management Committee” (CMC), created in October 2023. The CMC acts as a response to the social and environmental challenges that all global economic players face today in the infrastructure sector.

The procedural rules of the “Conflict Management Committee” innovate by proposing, in addition to the traditional missions of dispute resolution missions of a commercial or technical nature, a mission now also extended to disputes over social and environmental responsibility in the monitoring of infrastructure project disputes.

The committee members participate in preventing social, economic, and environmental risks by initiating dialogue at the start of the project with the affected communities and ensuring ongoing environmental impact monitoring of the project.

This new tool thus contributes to the systematic consideration of the protection of the rights of vulnerable communities, including workers at the project site or indigenous communities, while ensuring strict monitoring of environmental issues.

To watch the recording of the session: https://www.facebook.com/univ.antilles/videos/272859505824922/?locale=fr_FR

To consult the procedural rules of the CMC: https://www.carohadac.org/services/conflict-management-committee.html

To discover CARO services: https://www.carohadac.org

For more information, please contact: secretariat@carohadac.org