A/HRC/S-6/2 page 5 II. Organization of work of the sixth special session 1. Pursuant to paragraph 10 of General Assembly resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006, and in accordance with rule 6 of the Council’s rules of procedure as contained in Council resolution 5/1 of 18 June 2007, the Council shall hold special sessions, when needed, at the request of a member of the Council with the support of one third of the membership of the Council. 2. By letter dated 18 January 2008, addressed to the President of the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/S-6/1), the Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic, as Chairman of the Group of Arab States, and the Permanent Representative of Pakistan, as Coordinator of the Group on Human Rights and Humanitarian Issues of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, requested the convening of a special session of the Human Rights Council on 23 January 2008 to consider and take action on human rights violations emanating from Israeli military incursions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the recent ones in occupied Gaza and the West Bank town of Nablus. 3. The letter, received by the President on the same day, was accompanied by signatures in support of the above-mentioned request from the following 21 States members of the Council: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Uruguay. The Philippines and Senegal subsequently signed the request. 4. As more than one third of the membership of the Council supported the above-mentioned request, the special session of the Council was convened on 23 January 2008. A. Opening and duration of the session 5. The Council held its sixth special session at the United Nations Office at Geneva on 23 and 24 January 2008. It held two meetings (see A/HRC/S-6/SR.1-2)1 during the session. 6. The sixth special session was opened by the President of the Council, Mr. Doru Romulus Costea. 1 Summary records of each of the meetings are subject to correction. They are considered final with the issuance of a consolidated corrigendum to document A/HRC/S-6/SR.1-2.