A/HRC/S-26/2 II. Organization of work of the twenty-sixth special session 1. Pursuant to paragraph 10 of General Assembly resolution 60/251, and in accordance with rule 6 of the rules of procedure of the Human Rights Council as contained in the annex to Council resolution 5/1, 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. On 9 December 2016, the Permanent Representatives of Albania, Paraguay and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the United Nations Office at Geneva and the Representative of the United States of America to the Human Rights Council requested the convening of a special session of the Council on 14 December 2016 on the situation of human rights in South Sudan (see A/HRC/S-26/1). 3. The above-mentioned request was supported by 16 States Members of the Human Rights Council: Albania, Belgium, France, Georgia, Germany, Latvia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Panama, Paraguay, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, Slovenia, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The request was also supported by 24 observer States of the Council: Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and the United States of America. 4. Subsequently, the request was also supported by the following Member and observer States: Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Japan, Liechtenstein, Maldives, Montenegro and Ukraine. 5. As more than one third of the membership of the Human Rights Council supported the above-mentioned request, the President of the Council, following consultations with the main sponsors, decided to convene an open-ended informative consultation on the conduct and organization of the special session on 12 December 2016, and the special session on 14 December 2016. A. Opening and duration of the session 6. The Human Rights Council held its twenty-sixth special session at the United Nations Office at Geneva on 14 December 2016. It held two meetings during the session. 7. The twenty-sixth special session was opened by the President of the Human Rights Council. B. Attendance 8. The special session was attended by representatives of States Members of the Human Rights Council, observer States of the Council, observers for non-Member States of the United Nations and other observers, and observers for United Nations entities, specialized agencies and related organizations, intergovernmental organizations and other entities, national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations. C. Officers 9. At its organizational session of the tenth cycle, on 7 December 2015, the Human Rights Council elected the following officers: 7