Brian Currin (born 20 September 1950) is a South African

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

who was instrumental in the establishment of the

Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state ac ...

. Currin practiced law in

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

from 1977 to 1987, specializing in labour law and civil and human rights, and now works in

mediation Mediation is a structured, voluntary process for resolving disputes, facilitated by a neutral third party known as the mediator. It is a structured, interactive process where an independent third party, the mediator, assists disputing parties ...

and institutional transformation. In 1994 he was appointed by South African President

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

to chair a Prison Audit Committee and was subsequently involved in the creation of the

. In 1987 he founded the National Directorate of Lawyers for Human Rights which he headed for eight years. He has worked in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

on political transformation. Currin now co-chairs the Sentence Review Commission in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, which decides on the early release of prisoners who have committed terrorism-related offences. In 2000, he became an independent

mediator Mediation is a structured, voluntary process for resolving disputes, facilitated by a neutral third party known as the mediator. It is a structured, interactive process where an independent third party, the mediator, assists disputing parties ...

in the Drumcree parading dispute and said that he hoped he could achieve a breakthrough in the mediation role because he was a completely independent outsider. But he quit his role in December 2001, saying that as

Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...

Orangemen had withdrawn from dialogue, he was "unable to take the process any further".

Involvement in the Basque Conflict

Currin has been involved since 2004Interview with Brian Currin - "Alliance Magazine", 16 May 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2013
in trying to help resolve the

Basque Conflict The Basque conflict, also known as the Spain–ETA conflict, was an armed and political conflict from 1959 to 2011 between Spain and the Basque National Liberation Movement, a group of social and political Basque nationalism, Basque organization ...

. His work has been funded by the

Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) is a philanthropic grant-making trust that supports work undertaken in the UK and Ireland, and previously South Africa. It is one of three original trusts set up by Joseph Rowntree in 1904. The Trust ...

. In the last years he is part of the international mediators team involved in the search of a negotiated solution for the conflict in the Basque Country between the Basque terrorist group

ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...

(Basque Country and Freedom) and the Spanish and French governments. In November 2010 this group was officially set up as the International Contact Group for the Basque Country. The Group had as mandate "to expedite, facilitate and enable the achievement of political normalization in the Basque Country" This mediators team is not recognized by either the Spanish or the French government. The main associations of victims of ETA have asked him to leave this labour considering it as inadequate and harmful. Additionally, the main Spanish parties at the time People's Party and

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

have criticized what they consider a lack of knowledge of the political reality in the Basque Country.

References

External links

''Pen Pictures''
''Sentence Review Commission''; accessed 3 November 2007.
'' Drumcree Dispute - Key figures''
''BBC News NI''; accessed 3 November 2007

''South Africa History Archive'']; accessed 3 November 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Currin, Brian Living people 1950 births 20th-century South African lawyers South African human rights activists White South African anti-apartheid activists South African anti-apartheid activists Place of birth missing (living people) People from Pretoria