About
We founded HumanRightsConsulting Vienna in 2006. The four founders had worked together in various fields and brought with them expertise in human rights, organisational development and consulting, as well as project management. It was clear to us that, for human rights work to be more effective, a well-founded, systemic and interdisciplinary approach was needed – precisely the approach adopted by HumanRightsConsulting Vienna.
Alfred Zauner, a co-founder who is now enjoying a well-deserved retirement, has had a significant influence on our approach thanks to his extensive experience as a systemic consultant who has also worked on human rights projects.
Our values
Our approach is guided by the principles of human rights, respect for our clients’ autonomy, and a dignity-based, appreciative way of interacting with them and with one another within the team. Human rights begin with communication – on an equal footing.
Human rights make sense.
“Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.” Vaclav Havel
Walter Suntinger
Mag.iur.
Consultant, trainer and lecturer
How I look at the world
Ever since I began my work with Amnesty International in 1986, I have been guided by the hope of which Václav Havel speaks. From many years of experience, I know that human rights make sense; they offer solutions to life’s fundamental questions – despite all the violations and setbacks. And they inspire. I have seen this time and time again, in training sessions for activists, within police and in a corporate context.
My learning journey
I studied law and languages – Spanish, French and Portuguese – at the University of Graz. The essentials, however, I learned through practical and academic work, above all systemic and interdisciplinary thinking, acquired autodidactically and then refined through a programme in Systemic Change Management at Steinbeis University Berlin.
My topics
My life's theme is the practical application of human rights in a variety of contexts: the police and justice systems, the business sector, development cooperation, the monitoring of places of detention, refugee protection, and conflict zones. I have authored academic papers on these topics and developed practical tools (see a selection under Insights). My work in training and consulting has taken me to South Africa, Kosovo, Mongolia, Georgia, Armenia, Brazil, Turkey, Tunisia, Mauritania, Yemen and Morocco, amongst other places. I have worked in five languages and am a member of the International Association of Hyperpolyglots (Hypia).
Professional roles
I have been an independent human rights consultant and trainer since September 1998, and a partner at HumanRightsConsulting Vienna since April 2006.
Before/alongside that, I was:
- Research fellow and human rights trainer at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Human Rights (BIM) in Vienna, 1992–1998
- Staff member of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Vienna in 1992, 1998 and 2020
- Senior Lecturer/Academic Programme Manager at the Vienna Master of Arts in Applied Human Rights/University of Applied Arts (2021-2026)
- Member of the Austrian Human Rights Advisory Board (1999–2012) and of a visiting commission of the National Preventive Mechanism in Austria (2012–2015).
- Member of the Board of the Association for the Prevention of Torture in Geneva (1998–2021)
I have been teaching at various universities since 1995.
Currently: the University of Vienna and FH Campus Wien.
Previously: FH Wiener Neustadt, the University of Vienna/Vienna Master’s Programme in Human Rights, the European Peace University in Stadtschlaining, Johns Hopkins University/Bologna Centre, and the University of Oregon/Study Abroad Programme in Vienna.
Anton Lorenz
Mag.rer.soc.oec.
Consultant, trainer and lecturer
How I look at the world
Justice and mutual respect were important to me from an early age. I have been active in the field of human rights since the early 1990s, initially campaigning against the death penalty; whilst at Amnesty International, I had to grapple with many challenging issues in my international voluntary roles.
My learning journey
My professional expertise is based on a degree from the Vienna University of Economics and Business, training in systemic consulting in Heidelberg, auditor training for the SA8000 social standard, and certification as an Executive Consultant and Coach (IPMA©).
My topics
My work focuses on the intersection of human rights and business: I support companies in integrating human rights requirements into their strategies, structures and operational processes. In doing so, I combine many years of experience in systemic consulting with expertise in human rights.
Professional roles
As a lecturer on the Master’s programme in Human Rights at the University of Vienna, I teach project management in the context of human rights; I also held a long-standing teaching post in this field at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.
I am a partner and consultant at HumanRightsConsulting Vienna OG, as well as managing director, consultant and trainer at Primas CONSULTING GmbH.
From 2011 to 2016, I served as President of Amnesty International Austria; prior to that, from 2003 to 2009, I was International Auditor for Amnesty International. These voluntary roles combine my work as a consultant and lecturer with my long-standing involvement in the international human rights movement.
At Amnesty International Austria, I set up the leadership programme for young volunteers, which I ran for many years.
Gudrun Rabussay-Schwald
Maga.iur.
Consultant, trainer and lecturer
currently paused
How I look at the world
The question of the inviolable dignity of the human person (Art. 1 of the UDHR) has shaped my thinking ever since my student days, throughout my professional life and far beyond. After several decades of working in the field of human rights – and dealing with violations, some of them serious – I am more convinced than ever that human rights form the foundation of peaceful coexistence, and that it is worth working towards them every single day.
My learning journey
I studied law at the University of Graz and subsequently completed the European Master’s Programme in Human Rights and Democracy in South-East Europe (Post-Conflict Setting). As human rights work always involves conflict management, I also trained as a systemic mediator. My current focus is on the intersection of compliance and human rights.
My topics
I am particularly passionate about human rights education – understood as an empowerment-based approach that goes beyond the mere transfer of knowledge to include practical skills and an examination of one’s own attitudes. I work with a wide range of target groups (including the police, children, social workers, teachers and activists) in a variety of organisational contexts – ranging from NGOs and international organisations to public authorities and the police, and including private companies.
Professional roles
Since April 2006 Partner at HumanRightsConsulting Vienna
- Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Human Rights Advisory Board at the Federal Ministry of the Interior (2001–2006)
- Freelance human rights trainer (2006–2016)
- Lecturer on the University of Oregon’s study abroad programme in Vienna (2003–2012)
- Head of Human Rights Education at Amnesty International Austria (2016–2023)
- Human Rights Officer at BBU GmbH (2023–2024) Head of the Human Rights Department and Compliance Officer at BBU GmbH (since 2025)