Doru Romulus Costea

His main task was to initiate the Universal Periodic Review of the human rights records of the then 192 member states of the United Nations.

In December 2003, he became the Permanent Representative of Romania to the United Nations Office and to international organizations in Geneva.

[3] The United Nations Human Rights Council appointed Costea to be its president at the same time as it approved a set of procedures known as the Universal Periodic Review.

[4] During Costea's presidency, the Council considered the political situations in Myanmar, Darfur, Liberia, Sudan, Israel, Somalia, discussed the "world food crisis", and received the first reports produced under the Universal Periodic Review; the Council held a general debate on racism and racial discrimination, and discussed the follow-up to The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.

[5] Also during Costea's presidency, the Council took the controversial decision to appoint Richard A. Falk to a six-year term as a United Nations Special Rapporteur on "the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967".