A/HRC/S-21/2 II. Organization of work of the twenty-first 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 18 July 2014, the Permanent Representatives of Egypt (on behalf of the Group of Arab States), the Islamic Republic of Iran (on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement), the Niger (on behalf of the Group of African States), Pakistan (on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation) and the Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations Office at Geneva, requested the convening of a special session of the Human Rights Council on 23 July 2014 on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. 3. The above-mentioned request was supported by 17 States Members of the Human Rights Council: Algeria, Benin, Botswana, China, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Maldives, Morocco, Pakistan, Peru, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of). The request was also supported by six observer States of the Council: Brunei Darussalam, Egypt, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Malaysia, the State of Palestine and Turkey. 4. On the same day, Botswana withdrew its co-sponsorship of the above-mentioned request. Ecuador signed the request. 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 22 July 2014 and a special session of the Council on 23 July 2014. 6. On 21 July 2014, Benin notified the Secretariat of its decision to withdraw its cosponsorship of the request to convene the special session, while Burkina Faso signed the above-mentioned request. 7. In addition, the request was also supported by the following Member and observer States: Afghanistan, Argentina, Bahrain, Brazil, Chile, Djibouti, Gabon, Jordan, Lebanon, Namibia, Qatar, Senegal, the Sudan, Tunisia, Uruguay, Viet Nam and Yemen. A. Opening and duration of the session 8. The Human Rights Council held its twenty-first special session at the United Nations Office at Geneva on 23 July 2014. It held two meetings during the session. 9. The twenty-first special session was opened by the President of the Human Rights Council. B. Attendance 10. 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, as well as observers for United Nations entities, specialized agencies and related organizations, intergovernmental organizations and other entities, national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations. 7