A/HRC/52/30 75. The Special Rapporteur encourages international and national organizations supporting the efforts of Governments in developing national accountability frameworks to make sure that torture is criminalized as a serious criminal offence in ordinary criminal law, alongside efforts to legislate torture as a war crime and as a crime against humanity. 76. For national authorities, torture trials are often wrongly perceived as a threat to the very heart and legitimacy of governmental power. This false perception leads to serious obstacles to the delivery of justice, including through obstruction, threats and intimidation, legal and procedural irregularities and corruption. On the contrary, what threatens governmental legitimacy is torturing people, refusing to investigate and try perpetrators and allowing torturers to go unpunished. Impunity is the antithesis of accountable government. 77. The scale and extent of crimes of torture being perpetrated by public officials in countries, places and contexts worldwide far outstrip the capacity of international courts and tribunals to respond, no matter the international commitment to those bodies. This numerical gap alone pleads for national authorities to step up and own processes of justice, accountability, reconciliation and nation-building. No State has a perfect scorecard, but every State has the capacity to make changes through leadership in action. The Special Rapporteur calls on all Governments to establish, empower and equip national investigative bodies to take action against torture in line with international standards and best practices. GE.23-03126 19