The recognition that there was a clear link between crime and conflict, and the fact that serious and organized crime was prevalent in many conflict areas was the basis for a new agreement between the United Nations and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) to strengthen police units in peacekeeping missions around the world, a senior United Nations security official said today.

The Secretary-General, in remarks to reporters this morning, warmly welcomed the statement today by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, making it clear that the constitutional process regarding the Afghan elections must be fully respected. He said that the United Nations will do its utmost for the conduct of the second round of elections, scheduled for 7 November 2009, in a free, fair, transparent and secure environment.

The time had come to adopt a United Nations convention on rights of detainees, Manfred Nowak, Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, told correspondents at Headquarters today. “In so many countries”, he said, “States are not living up to their obligations to respect the basic dignity of human beings in detention.”

The Security Council this morning held consultations on West Africa, and the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Haile Menkerios, briefed the Council members on his visit to Guinea and the subregion, to prepare the ground for a commission of inquiry to investigate the violence that took place in Guinea on 28 September.

During a Headquarters press conference this afternoon, Angela Kane, Under-Secretary-General for Management, and United Nations Controller, Jun Yamazaki, presented a mixed picture as they outlined the Organization’s financial health, its proposed budget, and recent reform and management initiatives.

It was crucial to listen to victims when addressing the scourge of human trafficking, Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, told correspondents this afternoon, as she announced a Headquarters event that will provide a platform to four survivors of the scourge tomorrow.

The human rights situation in Myanmar remained alarming, with a pattern of widespread and systematic violations that prevailing impunity allowed to continue, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar said today.

“There isn’t an internationally recognized right that some company somewhere hasn’t violated,” John Ruggie, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, said today during a Headquarters press conference.

The international community must use a range of approaches to ameliorate the dismal human rights situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Vitit Muntarbhorn, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in that country, told correspondents at Headquarters this afternoon.

Peacekeepers from the African Union–United Nations mission in Darfur (UNAMID) have intervened in a deadly ethnic clash in North Darfur between two tribes. At least two people died and six people from both sides sustained injuries during the fighting. The immediate cause of the clash is believed to be access to water sources.