It was founded in 1992 by Felix Ermacora, Manfred Nowak and Hannes Tretter, all three Professors of Law at the University of Vienna.
Fremuth also holds a professorship for Fundamental and Human Rights at the University of Vienna.
It cooperates with the Institut für Staats- und Verwaltungsrecht at the University of Vienna.
In 1993, the Institute organised and coordinated the activities of more than 3,000 NGO delegates during the World Conference on Human Rights.
[1] In 2002, the Institute became a general mandate by the European Commission for the execution of twinning projects.