Officers of the 19th Cycle of the Human Rights Council (2025)

Dr. Salma Rasheed, Permanent Representative of the Maldives to the UN in Geneva, is a health policy professional with 40 years of experience. She directed women’s development programmes, including domestication of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and helped develop the Maldives’ first National Health Plan and national childhood immunization programme. She served in the Citizen’s Majlis and Special Majlis in the 1990s. Dr. Rasheed spent 17 years with the UN, holding leadership roles with UNFPA and WHO in Nigeria, India, Myanmar, Indonesia, Switzerland, and as Regional Advisor to the Maldives. She holds a Doctorate in Evaluation from London South Bank University, and Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from Leeds and the American University of Beirut.

Claudia Fuentes Julio, the Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations Office at Geneva, was appointed to her post in 2022. Earlier, Ms. Fuentes Julio served as Assistant Professor at the Department of Peace Studies at Chapman University in the United States and as Associate Professor at the Department of Politics of Government at the Alberto Hurtado University in Chile. Within the United Nations system, Ms. Fuentes Julio worked as a consultant with the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research in 2019 and 2020, and with the United Nations Development Programme between 2011 and 2015. Ms. Fuentes Julio holds a PhD in international studies from the University of Denver in the United States. She also has a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Kent in the United Kingdom, and a diploma in journalism from the University of Santiago in Chile.

Paul Empole Efambe was appointed Permanent Representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the United Nations Office at Geneva in December 2021. Prior to his appointment to Geneva, Mr. Empole Efambe had served at the Permanent Mission of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the United Nations in New York since 2017, first as Deputy Permanent Representative and then as the Chargé d’Affaires (a.i.). He also represented the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Population Fund and the United Nations Office for Project Services during that period. Mr. Empole Efambe has higher degrees in French literature from the University of Kinshasa, as well as a bachelor’s degree in applied pedagogy from the National Pedagogical University in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Răzvan-Victor Rusu took up his post as Permanent Representative of Romania to the United Nations Office at Geneva in August 2022. Prior to his appointment to Geneva, Mr. Rusu served as the Permanent Representative of Romania to the Council of Europe. He was the head of the Romanian delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance between 2014 and 2017 and served as Director General for Regional Affairs in the Romanian Foreign Ministry between 2012 and 2016. From June 2013 to August 2016, he served as the Special Envoy to the European Union’s Eastern Partnership. Between 2007 and 2012, Mr. Rusu was Romania’s Ambassador to Italy, Malta, San Marino and the UN agencies based in Rome. He holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in engineering from the Bucharest Institute of Civil Engineering, and a master’s degree in international affairs and European integration from Romania’s National School of Political and Administrative Studies.

Tareq Md Ariful Islam, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations Office at Geneva, former Vice-President

Tareq Md Ariful Islam became the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations Office at Geneva in August 2024. Before his appointment to Geneva, Mr. Islam had been serving as High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Sri Lanka, since 2020. Prior to that, he served as Deputy Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations in New York from 2016 to 2020. He also served at the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the United Nations in New York as First Secretary and then Counsellor from 2005 to 2009. Mr. Islam has a master’s degree in diplomacy and trade from Monash University in Australia and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.