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Recognizing the international dimensions of crime and the need for a concertedresponse on the part of the international community, the Seventh Congress adopted theMilan Plan of Action, 8 subsequently approved by the General Assembly in its resolution40/32 of 29 November 1985, in which it identified as an imperative need to launch a majoreffort to control and eventually eradicate the destructive phenomena of illicit drug trafficand abuse and of organized crime, both of which disrupt and destabilize societies. 9 In addition,it foresaw a significant role for the United Nations in facilitating the exchange ofinformation and experiences between Member States with a view to improving criminaljustice systems and enhancing their responsiveness to changing conditions and requirementsin society and to the new dimension of crime and criminality. 10Furthermore, the Seventh Congress adopted resolution 1, entitled “Organized crime”,in which it called upon Member States to intensify their efforts to combat more effectivelyorganized crime at the national level, including consideration, subject to safeguards andthe maintenance of basic rights under ordinary legal procedures and in conformity withinternational human rights standards, of the following measures: the modernizing of nationalcriminal laws and procedures, including measures to introduce new offences directed atnovel and sophisticated forms of criminal activity, provide for the forfeiture of illegallyacquired assets, facilitate the obtaining of evidence abroad for use in national criminal proceedingsand modernize national laws relating to extradition; the strengthening of lawenforcement authorities; the establishment of national institutions, such as national crimeauthorities or commissions, with appropriate powers, to investigate and obtain evidence forthe prosecution of those centrally involved in organized criminal activity; and the reviewor adoption of laws relating to taxation, the abuse of bank secrecy and gaming houses inorder to ensure that they were adequate to assist in the fight against organized crime and,in particular, the transfer of funds or the proceeds of such crime across national boundaries;and requested the Committee on Crime Prevention and Control to develop a comprehensiveframework of guidelines and standards that would assist Governments in thedevelopment of measures to deal with organized crime at the national, regional and internationallevels. 11 The Congress also adopted resolution 2, entitled “Struggle against illicitdrug trafficking”. 12Along with the advances made at the quinquennial congresses, another milestone onthe path to coordinated international action against transnational crime was the adoptionof the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and PsychotropicSubstances of 1988. 13 Under that legally binding instrument, States parties committed themselvesto combat one of the most lucrative manifestations of transnational organized crime,international drug trafficking, by, inter alia, criminalizing laundering of the proceeds ofdrug trafficking and strengthening international cooperation, in particular in the field ofextradition and mutual legal assistance.The Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatmentof Offenders, held in Havana from 27 August to 7 September 1990, considered issues relatedto organized crime under an agenda item entitled “Effective national and internationalaction against organized crime and terrorist criminal activities”. The Eighth Congress examinedthe problem of organized transnational crime in the light of new historic develop-8Ibid., chap. I, sect. A.9Ibid., para. 5 (g).10Ibid., para. 5 (h).11Ibid., sect. E, resolution 1.12Ibid., resolution 2.13United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1582, No. 27627.xi