The ETC has been set up as a non-profit association and started its work in October 1999. Its main aim is to conduct research and training programs in the fields of human rights, democracy and the rule of law in close co-operation with the University of Graz. Special emphasis is put on training programs for civil servants, the police, army, as well as for members of international organizations and NGOs in Austria and abroad. Simultaneously, research is conducted with a particular research focus on South Eastern Europe. These concepts provide also a basis for the dialogue of civilizations.

The implementation of the objectives of the United Nations Decade on Human Rights Education (1995 - 2004) in Austria requires an essential widening of the offers in the field of human rights education and training, both in formal education and in the basic training of the police or judges, but also in the training of teachers and collaborators of public administration or non-governmental organisations. The overriding objective is a contribution to the development of a "Culture of Human Rights" at the global, European and local level, i.e. by the support of the development of human rights cities.