A/73/207 protection against torture and ill-treatment and making proposals with regard to draft and existing legislation (arts. 17–23). 13. Since its establishment in 1981, the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture has provided more than $180 million in aid through grants to more than 630 organizations worldwide. 4 14. First appointed in 1985, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is mandated by the Human Rights Council to examine issues of torture and ill-treatment in all States Members and observer States of the United Nations, regardless of their treaty obligations. The mandate involves transmitting urgent appeals to States on behalf of individuals at risk of torture or ill-treatment and communications on allegations of past violations, undertaking fact-finding country visits and submitting thematic and activity reports to the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly. 15. The four anti-torture mechanisms are supported through the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which promotes and protects human rights, including the prohibition of torture and ill -treatment, through standard-setting, monitoring and implementation on the ground. 16. Outside the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) operates worldwide as an impartial humanitarian organization to promote respect for international humanitarian law, including through visits to persons deprived of their liberty for reasons related to armed conflicts. The Geneva Conventions of 1949 oblige parties to international armed conflicts to provide ICRC with access to prisoners of war and other protected persons; under article 3 of the Conventions, States and non-State belligerents are encouraged to do the same in armed conflicts that are not of an international character. 17. Those universal bodies are complemented by monitoring and implementation mechanisms established through regional instruments. 18. In sum, since 1948, the international community has developed a wealth of normative standards and institutional mechanisms to make the universal and absolute prohibition of torture and ill-treatment a reality. Despite these remarkable achievements, however, the practice of torture and ill -treatment remains widespread around the world and public tolerance for them seems to be on the rise again. In the view of the Special Rapporteur, the situation can be traced primarily to shortcomings in national implementation, challenges to the prohibition of torture and ill -treatment, impunity and discrimination. III. Challenges A. Ratification of international instruments 19. The first step towards national implementation of the international framework is for States to adopt and ratify the relevant treaties. The decision to do so is not entirely at the discretion of individual States, given the reaffirmation of human rights and dignity contained in the Charter of the United Nations, the provision in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that “everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in the Declaration can be fully realized” (art. 28) and the peremptory character of the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment itself. __________________ 4 6/23 See https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Torture/UNVFVT/BrochureUNVFVT.pdf. 18-12051