Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für Menschenrechte (BIM) is a research institute

Research institute

A research institute is an establishment endowed for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research...

 affiliated with the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft

Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft

The Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft ' is an Austrian network of specialized research institutes that are not part of a university. It was founded in 1961 and named after physicist Ludwig Boltzmann. As of 1999, the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft comprised 131 institutes in the fields of medicine,...

, that specializes in the area of human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

. It was founded in 1992 by Felix Ermacora

Felix Ermacora

Felix Ermacora was the leading human rights expert of Austria and a member of the Austrian People's Party...

, Manfred Nowak

Manfred Nowak

Manfred Nowak is an Austrian human rights lawyer.Nowak was a student of Felix Ermacora, and cooperated with him until Ermacora's death in 1995. They co-founded the Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für Menschenrechte in 1992...

 and Hannes Tretter

Hannes Tretter

Hannes Tretter is an Austrian lawyer and human rights expert. He is Professor of Human Rights at the University of Vienna and Director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für Menschenrechte, which he cofounded with Felix Ermacora and Manfred Nowak in 1992...

. Felix Ermacora served as its first director, as of 2009, Manfred Nowak and Hannes Tretter are joint scientific directors. The institute is located in Freyung in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

. It cooperates with the Institut für Staats- und Verwaltungsrecht at the University of Vienna

University of Vienna

The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...

.