A/HRC/RES/16/23 institutions, national preventive mechanisms and civil society, including non-governmental organizations; (g) To report on all of his or her activities, observations, conclusions and recommendations to the Human Rights Council, in accordance with its programme of work, and annually on the overall trends and developments with regard to his or her mandate to the General Assembly, with a view to maximizing benefits of the reporting process; 4. Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Special Rapporteur1 and his victim-oriented approach; 5. Emphasizes that acts of torture are serious violations of international human rights law and humanitarian law and can constitute crimes against humanity and, when committed in a situation of armed conflict, war crimes, and that the perpetrators thereof are liable to prosecution and punishment; 6. Urges States: (a) To cooperate with and assist the Special Rapporteur in the performance of his or her task, to supply all necessary information requested by him or her and to fully and expeditiously respond to his or her urgent appeals, and urges those Governments that have not yet responded to communications transmitted to them by the Special Rapporteur to answer without further delay; (b) To give serious consideration to responding favourably to the Special Rapporteur’s requests to visit their countries, and to enter into a constructive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on requested visits to their countries; (c) To ensure, as an important element in the prevention and combat of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, that no authority or official orders, applies, permits or tolerates any sanction or other prejudice against any person or organization for having been in contact with the Special Rapporteur or any other international or national monitoring or preventive body active in the prevention and combat of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; (d) To ensure proper follow-up to the recommendations and conclusions of the Special Rapporteur; 7. Also urges States: (a) To implement effective measures to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, particularly in places of detention and other places where persons are deprived of their liberty, including education and training for personnel who may be involved in the custody, interrogation or treatment of any individual subjected to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment, and ensure that conditions of detention respect the dignity and human rights of detainees; (b) To take persistent, determined and effective measures to have all allegations of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment investigated promptly, effectively and impartially by an independent, competent domestic authority, as well as whenever there is reasonable ground to believe that such an act has been committed; to hold persons who encourage, order, tolerate or perpetrate such acts responsible, to have them brought to justice and punished in a manner commensurate with the gravity of the offence, including the officials in charge of the place of detention where the prohibited act is found to have been committed; and to take note, in this respect, of the Principles on the 1 A/HRC/16/52. 3