Torkel Opsahl (17 March 1931 in

Stavanger Stavanger (, , US usually , ) is a city and municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the administrative center of Rogaland county. T ...

— 16 September 1993 in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situ ...

) was a Norwegian human rights scholar, professor of the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top univers ...

since 1965 and head of the board of its Human Rights Institute since 1987. From 1970 to 1984, he was a member of the

European Commission of Human Rights The European Commission of Human Rights was a special body of the Council of Europe. From 1954 to the entry into force of Protocol 11 to the European Convention on Human Rights, individuals did not have direct access to the European Court of H ...

. Between 1977 and 1986, he was a member of the UN

Human Rights Committee The United Nations Human Rights Committee is a treaty body composed of 18 experts, established by a 1966 human rights treaty, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Committee meets for three four-week sessions per y ...

. In 1992-1993 he chaired an independent commission exploring ways forward for Northern Ireland, out of which came the influential book 'A Citizens' Inquiry: the Opsahl Report on Northern Ireland'. Opsahl died from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which m ...

at his office in Geneva on 16 September 1993. At the time of his death, he was chairing the UN commission on war crimes in the former Yugoslavia.

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