We agreed to settle… so how do we enforce it when the debtor’s assets are in another country?

We agreed to settle… so how do we enforce it when the debtor’s assets are in another country?

Mediation often ends with a settlement agreement signed in relief, only for the creditor to discover at the enforcement stage that the debtor’s assets lie in another jurisdiction, and that a fresh claim is needed to prove what has already been agreed. The Singapore Convention on Mediation was designed to close that gap: it allows the holder of an international mediated settlement agreement to seek its direct enforcement before the courts of the contracting states, in a manner comparable to what the New York Convention offers arbitral awards.

The UAE deposited its instrument of accession on 8 October 2026, following Federal Decree No. 85 of 2026 approving the accession, and the Convention will enter into force for the UAE on 8 April 2027, joining Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman in a regional framework for enforcing settlements. The point that deserves attention is the reservation the UAE entered under Article 8: the Convention will apply only to the extent that the parties to the settlement agreement have agreed to its application. Its protection therefore arises not by operation of law but by the will of the parties, and a settlement agreement silent on the Convention may lose, in the UAE, its most valuable feature. The UAE also reserved the Convention’s application to settlements to which the State or its government agencies are a party.

The practical lesson is simple. When drafting any mediated settlement agreement with an international element, add an express clause submitting it to the Singapore Convention, and satisfy the requirements of Article 4: the parties’ signatures and evidence that the settlement resulted from mediation. The UAE’s reservation does not close the door; it places the key in the hands of whoever drafts with care.

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