The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights [official website] reported [press release] Monday that Special Rapporteur Javaid Rehman [official profile] has contacted Iran seeking to work with the government to fulfill the mandate in Human Rights Council resolution 37/30 [text, PDF] to address human rights issues in the country.

Resolution 37/30 renews the Special Rapporteur’s obligation to report on the human rights situation in Iran and calls upon the Iranian government to allow the Special Rapporteur to enter the country and for the government to cooperate with him so that he may file an accurate report. The resolution was put before the UN Human Rights Council [official website] and was signed in March with 21 countries—including the US, which announced withdrawal [JURIST report] from the council in June—in favor of the resolution, seven countries against and 19 countries abstaining.

In the Monday release, Rehman noted “I have written to the Iranian authorities to introduce myself and express my interest in visiting the country in order to obtain a better understanding of the human rights situation in the country.”

If allowed entry, Rehman will collaborate with local human rights groups in Iran in addition to government authorities. His aim is to “set out some of the measures that the Iranian authorities have taken and can further take with respect to the human rights situation in the country, and to also draw attention to the voices of the victims of alleged violations in line with [the] mandate.”