The Secretary-General and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen met in Phnom Penh this morning for a detailed exchange of views on a broad range of subjects covering bilateral, regional and international issues.

Speaking at a Headquarters press conference today, the United Nations Special Rapporteur, promoting the right to physical and mental health, said that the so called “campaign for a drug free world” could actually result in violations of the right to health, as people who used drugs might not come forward to get the care they needed for fear of being arrested, or could be denied health care if they sought help.

The Secretary-General is deeply saddened by the loss of life and destruction of property in Indonesia as a result of the eruption of Mount Merapi and the tsunami that affected the Mentawai Islands. He extends his deepest condolences to the families of those who have been killed, injured or made homeless by these still unfolding tragedies.

The Secretary-General spoke at the UN-ASEAN Summit in Hanoi today, and said that the relationship between the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is growing stronger. He highlighted the work that the two bodies can do together on moving forward with the Millennium Development Goals, human rights, peace and security issues and humanitarian assistance.

Today, on the first day of his visit to Beijing, the Secretary-General met with Chinese President Hu Jintao. They discussed a wide range of topics, including climate change, the Millennium Development Goals, the Korean peninsula and Africa.

After nearly 20 years of negotiations, 193 Governments from around the world adopted an “historic” protocol to fairly share the planet’s genetic resources, and a 10-year plan to protect its rapidly disappearing biodiversity — developments that set a positive tone for upcoming negotiations in Cancun, Mexico, to reach a new global climate accord, Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity Secretariat, told journalists at a Headquarters press conference today.

As Haiti braces for Tropical Storm Tomas, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that the United Nations and its partners continue to send supplies to key areas across the country, while ensuring that measures are taken to enable a response in Port-au-Prince and other cities.

The centrepiece in the Security Council’s programme of work this month would be a ministerial meeting on the situation in the Sudan on 16 November, the current Council President, Mark Lyall Grant, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom, told correspondents today at Headquarters. “It is critical that the Council retains a very close focus on Sudan in these critical months,” he said.

To help curb the growing number of people that call a slum their home, Governments must develop comprehensive urban policies that moved beyond the “megalopolis” to envelop villages, university towns and mid-size cities, the newly named Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN‑Habitat) told reporters at a Headquarters press conference today.

The Secretary-General welcomes the consensus reached among Guinean stakeholders that paves the way for the holding of the run-off presidential election on 7 November 2010. He urges all actors in the electoral process to ensure that the date is respected and that the necessary conditions are put in place for the smooth conduct of the poll.