UN rejects water as basic human right

OTTAWA, CANADA — A special resolution proposed by Germany and Spain at the UN Human Rights Council was stripped of references that recognized access to water as a human right. Federal officials in Canada said last week that the government wanted to ensure the meeting’s outcome reflected the fact that access to water is not formally recognized as a human right in international law. But a social advocacy group said that the position was designed to protect the right to sell water under the North American Free Trade Agreement.