Countermeasures are proposed for the following identified activities of organized crime: trafficking in persons, smuggling of migrants, trafficking in firearms, the use of and trafficking in explosives, trafficking in human organs, kidnapping, trafficking in endangered species, illegal logging, trafficking in ozone-depleting substances, illicit trade in hazardous substances, illicit trade in hazardous wastes, and trafficking in cultural property. Advances in information technology have facilitated ease of communication among criminal groups without regard to distance, cost, or organizational hierarchy; and advances in counterfeiting technologies have facilitated various types of fraud. Civil and political conflicts that have undermined socioeconomic and crime-control structures in various countries and regions have become breeding grounds for organized crime. In its discussion of the building of a global response to organized crime, the paper emphasizes the implementation of the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, which sets international standards for the development of institutions and measures that will counter organized crime. In implementing these standards in the countries that have signed the Convention, international cooperation in the provision of technical assistance will be important. 34 notes