A/HRC/27/55 in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.92 The Special Rapporteur recommends that increased attention be paid to violations of extraterritorial obligations. IV. Access to justice 73. The purpose of a more focused consideration of violations of the rights to water and sanitation is to promote more concerted action to ensure access to justice. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights points out that “all victims of violations of the right to water should be entitled to adequate reparation, including restitution, compensation, satisfaction or guarantees of non-repetition”.93 74. The Special Rapporteur emphasizes a remedial rather than punitive approach. While it is important in some cases to hold those responsible for violations accountable for their actions, the general focus should be on what needs to be done to remedy violations and on who is responsible for remedying violations, rather than on who is to blame. The Special Rapporteur emphasizes that initiatives to better identify and remedy violations of human rights should not be seen as adversarial or undermining of constructive dialogue. The rights and interests of rights holders must be the focus of remedying violations. As such, access to justice for violations of the rights to water and sanitation can serve to equalize power dynamics. 75. International mechanisms for identifying, adjudicating and remedying violations offer important opportunities for developing clearer understanding of violations and appropriate remedies. Inquiry mechanisms allow the treaty bodies to act at their own initiative and offer an innovative tool to address systemic violations of rights and situations where victims are unable to seek remedies. However, international bodies can only intervene in a few cases, when national remedies have been exhausted or are not available or effective, and the record of implementation of their decisions is not strong. Most of the work in identifying and remedying violations must be accomplished by domestic institutions. It is at the domestic level that laws and policies can be better influenced through civil society participation and be more context-specific, and where there is a better record of implementation of judicial decisions. 76. While courts in many jurisdictions are amenable to litigation challenging human rights violations, access to justice should not generally rely on litigation. States must ensure that water and sanitation services are provided within a context of clear rules. They must adopt measures to prevent human rights violations, for instance through carrying out human rights impact assessments. Where violations are being alleged, dispute and complaint mechanisms should be available with the aim of resolving issues quickly and efficiently. Where human rights violations are not adequately addressed, individuals must be able to proceed to court. Being able to turn to the courts – as a last resort – is an essential component of ensuring access to justice. Violations of the rights to water and sanitation have generally been dealt with more effectively in States where constitutional and legislative protections guarantee that those rights are directly or indirectly justiciable. In States where this is not yet the case, courts and governments should be guided by international developments and recognize the rights to water and sanitation as justiciable. Governments should promote the use of international law in interpreting domestic law. 92 93 CCPR/C/ISR/CO/3, para. 18; E/C.12/ISR/CO/3, para. 29. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 15 (2002) on the right to water, para. 55. See also Human Rights Council resolution 25/1, para. 5. 21