treatment have a right to an effective remedy, which is interlinked with their right to access justice. For a remedy to be effective, it must be available without impediment, offer victims with a prospect of success, and be sufficient to repair the harm suffered. While remedies should be judicial in nature, victims may choose to pursue reparation through non-judicial avenues and victims must be able to seek and obtain reparation irrespective of whether they pursued formal judicial, quasi-judicial, administrative, traditional or other processes. 24. State Parties are obligated to avail legal aid to victims in order for them to access effective redress. Legal aid should be broadly understood as encompassing legal representation, legal assistance, legal advice, legal education and information, mechanisms for alternative dispute resolution, and restorative justice processes. 25. State Parties shall carry out prompt, impartial, independent and thorough investigations when there are reasonable grounds to believe that torture and other ill-treatment has been committed, prosecute those responsible, and provide adequate, effective and comprehensive reparation to victims. Investigations should be in line with the standards enshrined in the UN Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (the Istanbul Protocol). 26. Victims of torture and other ill-treatment should access and obtain redress promptly. Promptness is also required during hearing claims for civil damages and when victims seek other means of reparation, including rehabilitation, which is crucial for the recovery process of victims. Promptness is further required for the effective enforcement of decisions by domestic, regional and international judicial and quasi-judicial mechanisms. Failure to provide prompt access to redress constitutes de facto denial of redress. To this end, State Parties are required to establish effective independent mechanisms for verifying compliance and enforcement of such decisions. They should include in their national budgets funds for reparation for victims of human rights violations, including victims of 8