AFGHANISTAN: OPIUM PRODUCTION CUT IN HALF
IN 2010

• The United Nations
  Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC),
  in its
  
  latest report on
  
  Afghanistan says that opium poppy cultivation in that
  country remained at 2009 levels, but the production of opium
  was cut by half in 2010.
   

• The report finds
  that opium cultivation remained stable at 123,000 hectares,
  down from a peak of 193,000 hectares in 2007, with 98 per
  cent of cultivation taking place in nine provinces in the
  south and west of the country.
   

• Total 2010 opium
  production is estimated at 3,600 metric tonnes, down 48 per
  cent from 2009. The decrease was largely due to a plant
  infection hitting the major poppy-crop growing provinces of
  Helmand and Kandahar particularly hard.
   

• Yury Fedotov,
  Executive Director of UNODC, said that this is good news but
  there is no room for false optimism; the market may again
  become lucrative for poppy-crop growers so we have to
  monitor the situation closely.

U.N. AGENCIES STEP UP HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS
IN PAKISTAN

• UN agencies have
  stepped up humanitarian efforts in
  
  Pakistan, where national authorities now report that
  more than 20 million people have been affected by the
  floods. Over 75 percent of the overall affected population
  lives in the provinces of Sindh and Punjab.
   

• In September, UN
  bodies and their partners provided food assistance to an
  estimated 7 million people.
   

• Since the start of
  flood response, the World Health Organization (WHO)
  has provided medicines sufficient for nearly five million
  people. WHO and
  
  UNICEF have also procured half a million
  insecticide-treated bed nets as an initial response to the
  increased malaria risk in flood-affected districts.
   

• Meanwhile, enough
  tents and tarpaulins have been delivered to provide shelter
  to more than 448,400 families, while some 3.67 million
  people are receiving potable water.
   

• Asked about funding for aid in
  Pakistan, the Spokesperson said that the revised Floods
  Emergency Response Plan was now 31 percent funded.
   

• The
  Spokesperson said that the Secretary-General has urged
  continued generosity from donors for Pakistan.

INCREASED DISASTER
PLANNING IS CRUCIAL IN HAITI FOLLOWING STORM

• The UN Humanitarian
  Coordinator in
  
  Haiti, Nigel Fisher, says that the
  
  storm of 24 September in Port au Prince, which damaged
  or destroyed 15,000 tents in just 30 minutes, underscores
  the vital importance of continued contingency planning and
  mitigation.
   

• The storm, which
  struck without warning last Friday afternoon, lasted just 30
  minutes but caused damage in 262 of the 1,300 camps that are
  still home to 1.3 million survivors of the January
  earthquake.
   

• Fisher says that the
  UN and the Government of Haiti had been planning accordingly
  and began assessments within minutes of the end of the
  storm. The first supplies were distributed just hours later,
  he added. But the Humanitarian Coordinator also says that
  this was a clear reminder of the terrible vulnerability of
  Haiti to natural disasters and of the continuing need to
  prioritise disaster preparedness.

WEST AFRICA: HEADS OF U.N. MISSION CALL
FOR ELECTIONS TO BE HELD ON SCHEDULE IN COTE D’IVOIRE

• Top officials from
  United Nations missions in West Africa held consultations on
  Wednesday in Dakar on how to coordinate their work to help
  ensure regional stability. The meeting was chaired by the
  Secretary-General’s Special Representative for
  
  West Africa, Said Djinnit.
   

• Participants urged
  
  Côte d’Ivoire’s political actors to hold the
  presidential election as planned, on 31 October. They called
  on Guinea’s leaders and presidential candidates there to
  create an environment conducive to a peaceful second round
  of the presidential elections.
   

• Participants at the
  meeting also renewed a pledge to support the regional action
  plan developed by the regional body, ECOWAS, in implementing
  Security Council resolution 1325, on the role of women in
  restoring and maintaining peace.

TWELVE U.N. AGENCIES CALL FOR THE
PROTECTION OF IRREGULAR MIGRANTS

• A dozen UN agencies
  – including the Office of the High Commissioner for Human
  Rights (OHCHR),
  
  UNICEF and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)
  – have taken part in the adoption of a joint
  
  statement calling for the protection of the human rights
  of irregular migrants.
   

• Although the number
  of migrants without proper legal status in transit or host
  countries is unknown, they’re estimated to be in the tens of
  millions worldwide.
   

• The UN agencies are
  members of the Global Migration Group, which, in its
  statement, said migrants in such situations are more likely
  to face discrimination, exclusion, exploitation and abuse at
  all stages of the migration process. Particular attention is
  drawn to the plight of migrant children, especially those
  unaccompanied and separated.
   

• The statement goes
  on to say that protecting the rights of migrants isn’t only
  a legal obligation; it’s also a matter of public interest
  and intrinsically liked to human development.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

UGANDA TO ASSUME
SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENCY FOR OCTOBER:
Today is the last day of Turkey’s

Security Council Presidency. Uganda will take over the
rotating Security Council Presidency for the month of October,
starting Friday.

SECRETARY-GENERAL HAS
RECEIVED LETTERS FROM BURUNDI AND UGANDA ON D.R.C. MAPPING
REPORT: The Spokesperson confirmed
that letters have been received from Uganda and Burundi
concerning the DRC mapping report. He said the report would be
issued by the

High Commissioner for Human Rights on Friday, along with
replies from Member States. The report would come out at 3 pm
Geneva time tomorrow.