Human Rights Council Bureau
The Human Rights Council is presided over by a rotating bureau.
It consists of five officers – a President and four Vice-Presidents – each representing one of the five UN regional groups. One of the Vice-Presidents serves as rapporteur. Each officer serves a term of one year.
The bureau is mainly responsible for procedural and organizational matters, including overseeing the Council meetings and handling correspondence with states.
What the Vice-Presidents do
The four Vice-Presidents of the bureau take turns chairing meetings in support of the President and advise on candidates for investigative fact-finding missions. They also receive and respond to correspondence from Permanent Missions.
Officers of the 18th Cycle of the Human Rights Council (2024)
Febrian Ruddyard, Permanent Representative of Indonesia to the United Nations Office at Geneva, Vice-President
Febrian Ruddyard has been Permanent Representative of Indonesia to the United Nations Office at Geneva since 2021. Before his appointment to Geneva, Mr. Ruddyard served as Director General, Directorate General for Multilateral Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia from 2017. He was Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Indonesia in Vienna, Austria, from 2014 to 2017 and served as an Economic Affairs Officer at the Permanent Mission of Indonesia to the United Nations in New York, United States, from 2007 to 2010. Mr. Ruddyard has a Master of Arts in international studies and diplomacy from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom (1994) and a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Universitas Padjadjaran, Bandung, Indonesia (1989)
Darius Staniulis, Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the United Nations Office at Geneva, Vice-President and Rapporteur
Darius Staniulis has served as the Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the United Nations Office at Geneva since 2022. Prior to his appointment in Geneva, Mr. Staniulis was the Director of the United Nations, International Organizations and Human Rights Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania from 2018, where he also served as Deputy Director from 2011 to 2015. He was a Minister Plenipotentiary at the Permanent Representation of Lithuania to the European Union from 2015 to 2018. He was posted at the Permanent Mission of Lithuania to the United Nations Office at Geneva from 2008 to 2011. Mr. Staniulis completed law studies focused on international law in Lithuania and the United Kingdom.
Marcela Maria Arias Moncada, Permanent Representative of Honduras to the United Nations Office at Geneva, Vice-President
Marcela Arias Moncada, the Permanent Representative of Honduras to the United Nations Office at Geneva, was elected to the bureau as vice-president of the Human Rights Council on 3 June 2024. Prior to her appointment to Geneva, Ms. Arias Moncada had been working as a Minister Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Honduras to the United Nations Office at Geneva since November 2022. Ms. Arias Moncada worked as a human rights officer at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights from August 2020 to September 2021. Before that, she worked as a research and advocacy officer at the Women’s Rights Center from January 2018 to July 2020. Ms. Arias Moncada has a Master of Public Policy from the University of Oxford (September 2021-September 2022). She graduated as a lawyer from the National Autonomous University of Honduras (September 2013-August 2019).
Heidi Schroderus-Fox, Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations Office at Geneva, Vice-President
Heidi Schroderus-Fox has been Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations Office at Geneva since 2023. Before her appointment to Geneva, Ms. Schroderus-Fox had been serving as the Director of the United Nations Office of the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States since 2012. She served as Head of Policy Issues for the Office of the President of the United Nations General Assembly from 2010 to 2011. Ms. Schroderus-Fox served as Deputy Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations in New York from 2006 to 2010. Ms. Schroderus-Fox has a Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration and is an alumna of the executive programme of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.
Former members of the Bureau for the 18th Cycle
Marcelo Eliseo Scappini Ricciardi has been the Permanent Representative of Paraguay to the United Nations Office at Geneva since 2022. Before his appointment to Geneva, Mr. Scappini Ricciardi had served as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay since September 2021. He served as Head of the Office of the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs from July 2021 to September 2021. Prior to this, he was the General Director for Bilateral Policy from January 2021 to September 2021 and General Director for Human Rights from March 2017 to January 2021. Mr. Scappini Ricciardi served as the Deputy Permanent Representative of Paraguay to the United Nations in New York from May 2012 to March 2017. Mr. Scappini Ricciardi completed a specialisation in International Cooperation for Development at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain (1997). He has a master’s degree in economics from Santo Tomas University in Bogota, Colombia (1994) and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Catholic University of Asuncion in Paraguay (1990).