A/HRC/S-18/2 17. Invites the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to report periodically on the situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic; 18. Invites the Secretary-General, in accordance with his functions, to take the necessary measures to support the efforts of the League of Arab States, if requested, to contribute to a peaceful solution to the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic consistent with the Charter of the United Nations and the League’s decisions and resolutions; 19. Decides to transmit the report of the commission of inquiry to the SecretaryGeneral for appropriate action and transmission to all relevant United Nations bodies, and requests the Secretary-General to present a report on the implementation of the present resolution to the Human Rights Council at its nineteenth session; 20. Also decides to remain seized of the matter and to consider further appropriate steps to be taken at its nineteenth session. II. Organization of work of the eighteenth 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 30 November 2011, the Permanent Representative of Poland and the Permanent Representative of the European Union requested the convening of a special session of the Human Rights Council on 2 December 2011 to examine the situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic in the light of the report of the commission of inquiry. 3. The above-mentioned request was supported by 28 States Members of the Human Rights Council: Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Chile, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Djibouti, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Maldives, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Poland, Qatar, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, the United States of America and Uruguay. The request was also supported by 40 observer States of the Council: Albania, Australia, Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 4. Additional signatures by the following Member and Observer States were also received: Colombia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Senegal, Tunisia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. 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 open-ended informative consultations on 1 December 2011 and a special session of the Council on 2 December 2011. A. Opening and duration of the session 6. The Human Rights Council held its eighteenth special session at the United Nations Office at Geneva on 2 December 2011. It held two meetings during the session. 6