Did the World Economic Forum (WEF) say that "water is not a human right" and order governments to begin rationing household water supplies? No, that's not true: The claim is a fabrication based on an WEF website article that urged policymakers "to rethink our approach to how we can best allocate and value water" in the face of a potential supply crunch. The article's first paragraph actually affirms that water is a human right, and nowhere does the WEF recommend rationing.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok on April 17, 2023. It opened:
'Water is Not a Human Right': WEF Orders Govt's To Begin Rationing Water Into Homes... In a disturbing development, the globalist elite are claiming that water is not a human right and the world's water supplies must be privatized and controlled by the elites. The World Economic Forum is teaming up with the UN to set its sights on seizing control of the world's water supplies and holding humanity to ransom.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Apr 27 11:29:37 2023 UTC)
The clip shows a Hungarian translation of an article published on April 12, 2023, by The People's Voice, a website known for disseminating disinformation. It claims that the United Nations 2023 Water Conference, which took place in New York on March 22-24, 2023, was a subterfuge for a "blossoming water treaty" that will force the world to "abide by all the coming WEF water dictates." As proof, The People's Voice cherry-picks quotes from a preview of the U.N. Water Conference that appeared on the WEF website on March 16, 2023.
The WEF article does not deny that water is a human right, as The People's Voice claims. In fact, it begins:
Our global water system is in crisis. Despite safe water and sanitation being a human right, billions of people lack access to these essentials for life, according to the United Nations.
Later in its article, The People's Voice accurately quotes the WEF article as saying,
It's clear that we need to rethink our approach to how we can best allocate and value water... How can we share the cost of preventing or mitigating droughts and floods exacerbated by global warming?
The People's Voice then offers its own answer to the WEF article's question:
By turning over all human activity to the control of the United Nations and its select partners in global politics. This is where this water conference is leading. The globalists won't quit until they grab all power from all people across all the nations -- even if they have to do it one drop at a time. The elites have long set their sights on seizing control of the water supply.
The WEF article mentions nothing about a global-elite water grab and does not use the word "rationing." It only says that the WEF's Global Commission on the Economics of Water planned to present "game-changing ways to value and manage water as a common good" at the U.N. Water Conference.
The WEF commission released a report titled "Turning of the Tide" ahead of the conference in March 2023. It details seven recommendations aimed at ensuring equitable and sustainable access to water worldwide. These do not include rationing of water supplies, and the only time the report mentions "privatization" of water stocks is to criticize the concept.
Moreover, it is not clear how the WEF, a Swiss public-policy group, would have the authority to "order" any government to ration water.
The People's Voice (formerly NewsPunch, formerly YourNewsWire) has published numerous hoaxes and fake news articles in the past. Lead Stories has debunked claims appearing on these variously named sites on numerous occasions.
