About us

Since 2014, CEHRI has been committed to advancing accountability for international crimes and serious human rights violations before domestic, European, and international courts and tribunals.
We work in close collaboration with legal practitioners, medical professionals, and survivor-led organizations to support individuals affected by torture, conflict-related sexual violence, arbitrary detention, and other grave abuses.

Our work integrates legal representation with psychosocial support, ensuring that survivors are not only heard, but also empowered throughout the justice process. Grounded in the principles of therapeutic justice, our approach seeks to minimize retraumatization and promote healing while pursuing accountability.

Through strategic litigation, evidence documentation, capacity building, and committed partnerships, we aim to strengthen the rule of law, challenge impunity, and secure meaningful redress for those most affected by systemic violence.

TEAM

We are a diverse team of  professionals, including lawyers, medical experts, academics and paralegals,  at various stages of our careers. What unites us is a shared commitment to human rights for all, a passion for advocating indiscriminate human rights protection, and a firm belief that strategic legal action is capable of improving victims’ human rights realities.

Combining knowledge, experience and resources to achieve our goals benefits our work and the individuals we assist. If you are interested in becoming a member, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Board

Tatiana Urdaneta Wittek

is a domestically (Austria, Germany) and internationally experienced practising lawyer responsible for the development of CEHRI in Austria. Tatiana believes in an environment that will offer sustainable living space for all generations to come, and has initiated a number of local citizens’ initiatives accompanied by legal action. Tatiana speaks German, English, Italian and French.

Tessa HALL (née Schrempf)

is a solicitor (England & Wales qualified) practicing in human rights, public international law and arbitration. Previously, she spent 2.5 years working on international human rights cases in Austria, as well as some months at the ECtHR, half a year with the International Commission of Jurists as researcher and substantially contributed to a report on the nomination of judges for the Open Society Justice Initiative. Her passion is the development of a global economy that respects individual and collective human rights.

Graeme Lawrence Hall

is a British barrister with a long record of human rights cases in different areas of law, including international law, extradition, crime, civil disputes, mental health and public law. Graeme spent half a year in Uganda setting up a project on death row.

Operations

Vlad Marica

is an engineer and project manager experienced in information technology, aeronautics and defense. Vlad is responsible for CEHRI operations and scientific research related to his areas of expertise. Based in Vienna, Vlad speaks English, French, German and Romanian.

Advisory Board

Prof. Manfred Nowak

is Secretary General of the European Inter-University Center for Human Rights and Democratisation (EIUC, in Venice), Professor of International Human Rights Law at the University of Vienna (retired) and Scientific Director of the Vienna Master of Arts in Human Rights as well as the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights. Previously, Manfred served as a judge at the Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and was UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. In 2016, he was appointed Independent Expert leading the United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty.

Dr. Wolfgang Petritsch

is the President of the Austrian Institute for International Affairs, Vienna and of the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation, Chair of the Herbert Kelman Institute for Interactive Conflict Transformation, Cambridge-Vienna-Jerusalem, and a member of the European Leadership Network (London). He has published extensively and held professorships at the universities of Harvard, Berkeley and Vienna. Previously, Wolfgang was the Press Secretary and Deputy Chief of Cabinet to former Austrian Federal Chancellor Bruno Kreisky, before serving as Ambassador to Yugoslavia. Wolfgang has held numerous national and international posts; including as EU Special Envoy and Chief Negotiator at the Kosovo peace negotiations, UN-High Representative in BiH in charge of the implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords, Chair of the International Succession Commission for the SFRY, as well as Austria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, the WTO and the OECD, amongst others. www.wolfgangpetritsch.com

Dr. Astrid Reisinger Coracini

is a post-doctoral researcher and lecturer at the Department of international law and international relations of the University of Vienna. She is also director of the Salzburg Law School of International Criminal Law, Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law and serves as Adjunct Professor for international law at Webster Vienna Private University. Astrid is an acknowledged expert in international criminal law. She has been a member of the Austrian delegations at the Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court and at the first review conference of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. On a national level, she was a member of the expert group for the implementation of crimes under international law into the Austrian criminal code and a member of the expert group for the implementation of the crime of aggression into the German code of crimes against international law.

DDr. Elisabeth Steiner

is a human rights lawyer and member of the senior expert council of the law firm Lansky, Ganzger + partners in Vienna. She has extensive knowledge on international human rights law, international law and the rule of law following her longstanding successful career representing the most vulnerable; followed by two terms spent as a judge at the bench of the European Court of Human Rights, including as Vice President of Section I of the Court. Elisabeth also holds multiple visiting professorships in Beijing, Hong Kong and Yantai, lectures at the University of Stanford and at SFU, alongside the Universities of Vienna and Graz, as well as at the Danube University in Krems; accompanied by regular publications on rule of law matters.

Prof. Dr.med. Thomas Wenzel

s a Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist, affiliated to Medical University of Vienna and Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, as well as the Chair of the World Psychiatric Association Scientific Section on Psychological Aspects of Torture and Persecution. In the past, Prof. Wenzel worked as Medical Director/ Head Programs of IRCT (International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Survivors), co-founder of Hemayat Treatment center for Torture Victims,  and as Secretary General of the International Academy of Law and Mental Health. Prof Wenzel has a long-standing history of international work in war and conflict areas, in the assessment and support of survivors of torture and also in teaching standards such as the UN/WMA Istanbul Protocol on investigation of torture, inter alia as scientific coordinator of EU ARTIP/ATIP and other projects for the Istanbul Protocol. Prof. Wenzel is also the President of ÖGBA (Austrian Association for Bioanalytics), associate member of the World Medical Association, and an honorary member of the Syrian Association for Mental Health.

Prof. Dr. Ingrid Mitgutsch

is an Assistant Professor at the Institute for Criminal Law at Johannes Kepler University Linz. Her research focuses on medical criminal law and the practice of criminal proceedings. She has held guest lectures at leading European universities, including Trinity College Dublin and the Free University of Berlin, and serves as the faculty coordinator for the ERASMUS program. Mitgutsch is a member of the Juristische Gesellschaft zu Berlin and has published widely in the field of criminal law.

Combining knowledge, experience and resources to achieve our goals benefits our work and the individuals we assist. If you are interested in becoming a member, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

 

Partners

Strong collaborative partnerships and funders are key for our work and the support we provide to victims. Past and present partners include, amongst others:

  • United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture (UNVFVT)
  • UN International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) to assist in the investigation and prosecution of persons responsible for the most serious crimes under International Law committed in the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011
  • Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI)
  • PAX for Peace (PAX)
  • the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR)
  • the Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ);
  • the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM)
  • the Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Research (SL-Center)