A/RES/70/146 Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment 38. Calls upon all States to cooperate with and assist the Special Rapporteur in the performance of his tasks, to supply all necessary information requested by him, to fully and expeditiously respond to and follow up on his urgent appeals, to give serious consideration to responding favourably to requests by him to visit their countries and to enter into a constructive dialogue with him on requested visits to their countries as well as with respect to the follow-up to his recommendations; 39. Stresses the need for the continued regular exchange of views among the Committee, the Subcommittee, the Special Rapporteur and other relevant United Nations mechanisms and bodies, as well as for the pursuit of cooperation with relevant United Nations programmes, notably the United Nations crime prevention and criminal justice programme, with regional organizations and mechanisms, as appropriate, and with civil society organizations, including non -governmental organizations, with a view to enhancing further their effectiveness and cooperation on issues relating to the prevention and eradication of torture by, inter alia, improving coordination; 40. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure, within the overall budgetary framework of the United Nations, the provision of adequate staff and facilities for the bodies and mechanisms involved in preventing and comba ting torture and assisting victims of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including, in particular, the Committee, the Subcommittee and the Special Rapporteur, commensurate with the strong support expressed by Member States for preventing and combating torture and assisting victims of torture, in order to enable them to discharge their mandates in a comprehensive, sustained and effective manner, and taking fully into account the specific nature of their mandates; 41. Recognizes the global need for international assistance to victims of torture, stresses the importance of the work of the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, appeals to all States and organizations to contribute annually to the Fund, preferably with a substantial increase in the level of contributions, and welcomes the establishment of and encourages contributions to the Special Fund established by the Optional Protocol to support the implementation of the recommendations made by the Subcommittee and of educational programmes by the national preventive mechanisms; 42. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to transmit to all States the appeals of the General Assembly for contributions to the Funds, to include the Funds, on an annual basis, among the programmes for which funds are pledged at the United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities, and to submit to the Human Rights Council, and to the General Assembly at its seventy -first and seventy-second sessions, a report on the operations of the Funds; 43. Welcomes the Convention against Torture Initiative, launched in March 2014 on the thirtieth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention to achieve the universal ratification and improved implementation of the Convention by 2024, as well as related regional initiatives on the prevention and eradication of torture; 44. Calls upon all States, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and other United Nations bodies and agencie s, as well as relevant intergovernmental and civil society organizations, including non-governmental organizations, to commemorate, on 26 June, the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture; 45. Decides to consider at its seventy-first and seventy-second sessions the reports of the Secretary-General, including the report on the United Nations 8/9