A/76/168 Fostering continuous accountability 66. State Governments should actively foster, and remove all barriers to, continuous accountability for torture and ill-treatment. This encompasses: (a) Ratifying, without reservations, the Convention against Torture and its Optional Protocol, and setting up national preventive mechanisms, with unconditional access to all places of deprivation of liberty, sufficient resources and de jure and de facto independence; (b) Cooperating fully with international bodies which hold States to account for their compliance with the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment, including the Committee against Torture, the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, the Special Rapporteur on torture, and other relevant treaty bodies and independent mandates; (c) Upholding the highest standards of freedom of information and transparency regarding State practices; (d) Fostering democratic deliberation on all matters having an impact on the adherence of States to the prohibition of torture and ill -treatment, including by enabling civil society organizations, human rights defenders and investigative journalists to document violations of human rights and support victims and their families; (e) Facilitating through cooperation and material support, and not interfering with, the work of investigative and judicial authorities and other bodies engaged in the pursuit of accountability for torture and ill-treatment; (f) Guaranteeing access to fundamental safeguards against torture and ill treatment from the outset of deprivation of liberty, including access to legal representation, contact with family and the right to be examined by an independent medical doctor; (g) Ensuring that mechanisms tasked with investigating allegations of torture conduct their work in full independence and impartiality, and in complia nce with the standards provided for in the Istanbul Protocol. Adequate capacity-building and resourcing of accountability mechanisms 67. States should dedicate adequate resources to, and build the capacity of, investigatory, prosecuting and judicial authorities and other bodies engaged in the pursuit of accountability for torture and ill-treatment, as well as rehabilitation centres for victims of torture and ill-treatment. Given the widespread shortcomings in accountability processes identified in the present report, all States should consider increasing the resources allocated to accountability mechanisms and to the provision of reparation, including rehabilitation, for torture and ill-treatment. Support for civil society and human rights defenders 68. States should ensure that civil society and, in particular, human rights defenders can work in an environment free from threats, discrimination and harassment, and that they can freely access, document and impart information that enables accountability for victims of torture and ill-treatment. Systematic prompt and impartial investigations 69. States should uphold their responsibility to investigate all allegations of torture and ill-treatment that are brought to their attention, as well as “whenev er there is reasonable ground to believe that an act of torture has been committed in any territory under its jurisdiction”. This obligation to investigate is extended to the cases 21-09914 21/23