The University of Ghana Law School Mediation Team made an impressive appearance as Ghana’s first representative at the International Chamber of Commerce International Mediation Competition.

The pioneering team of Lilyan Boamah, Senam King,  Pomaa Oppong Bediako and Edward Adeabah and the coaches Rachel Haizel (Lecturer), Emmanuella Naa Ashardey Ashely (Coach) and Nahum Agyepong (Mentor)  participated in the 21^st ICC International Commercial Mediation Competition and won the highly coveted Award of Achievement:  Distinction for Acknowledgement of Cultural Differences.

The International Chamber of Commerce’s largest educational event of the year welcomed 120 professionals from 36 countries and 58 universities from 34 countries to ICC Headquarters in Paris and ran 200 mock mediations making it the Olympics of Mediation. The University of Auckland emerged as 2026 Champions with teams from Bucerius Law School, Germany, University of Warsaw, University of Georgia, Royal Institute of Colombo, University of Southampton, Yale University, University of Sao Paolo, National Law School of India University, Bangalore amongst others putting their negotiation and mediation skills to the test.

The team presented their award to the Chairman of International Chamber of Commerce Ghana (ICC Ghana, Sir Sam Jonah and the Secretary General Emmanuel Doni-Kwame.

The Chairman of ICC Ghana, Sir Sam Jonah advised the team to see their failure to win the ultimate as learning experience and congratulated the team for their achievement.

He, however, expressed concern about the declining male law student numbers and called for gender balance. The Secretary General Emmanuel Doni-Kwame informed the delegation that ICC Ghana will liaise with the University of Ghana to organize a national competition to attract the best candidates for future competition.

The ICC Mediation competition is an educational event that seeks to encourage the effective use of mediation and the open exchange of ideas, experience and know-how between students and professionals from different countries, cultures, generations and backgrounds. Appreciation and respect for cultural diversity should be shown by all participants.

ICC has over 100 years of experience in devising rules to govern and facilitate the conduct of international business. These rules include those designed to resolve the conflicts that inevitably arise in business relations. ICC offers a wide range of dispute resolution rules for business disputes including the ICC Rules of Arbitration, ICC Mediation Rules, ICC Expert Rules and the ICC Dispute Board Rules.

The ICC International Court of Arbitration is the world’s leading arbitral institution.