The Statement
A Facebook post circulating on New Zealand social media accounts repeats refuted rumours of a secret United Nations agenda to create a “new world order”.
The post includes an image purporting to be an official UN agenda that outlines plans to create a one-world government presiding over a populace of civilians microchipped for tracking purposes.
Headed “NEW WORLD ORDER: UN Agenda 21/2030 Mission Goals”, the agenda also includes “the end of the family unit” and “government raised children”, both of which are circled in the Facebook post.
The September 9 post features a caption reading “Do u Adern n Labour Supporters [sic] agree to this? Seriously?” and had been shared more than 150 times at the time of writing.
The Analysis
The New World Order document featured in the Facebook post outlines 23 different mission goals attributed to the UN, however the document was not drafted by the UN nor do the goals align with the agendas it references.
UN Agenda 21 refers to a non-binding resolution agreed to at the UN’s 1992 Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. The resolution aims for nations to take a holistic approach to social, economic and environmental change, proposes possible solutions for global problems and aims to empower previously disenfranchised groups.
However since its inception, Agenda 21’s 31 goals for sustainable development have been targeted by conspiracists.
A 2014 report from the Southern Poverty Law Centre, a US-based civil rights group with a background in monitoring extremism, outlines how conspiracy theories have surrounded Agenda 21 for years.
“Agenda 21 has been transformed in much of the American public mind into a secret plot to impose a totalitarian world government, a nefarious effort to crush freedom in the name of environmentalism,” the report says.
The document shown in the Facebook post also includes 2030 in the headline – likely a reference to the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The 2030 Agenda is a list of economic and social goals including ending all poverty, ending world hunger and achieving global gender equality.
In an email to AAP FactCheck, a UN spokeswoman said the document included in the Facebook post was “not a genuine UN document”.
Variations of the post have been circulating social media globally for months. This version of the post, with some areas circled, is the same false image previously debunked by a number of factchecking outlets – see here, here and here.
Although there are superficial elements of the post’s claims mentioned in the two relevant documents, the mission goals listed are not part of either Agenda 21 nor 2030 Agenda.
For example, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development does suggest promoting the research and distribution of vaccines but does not include the goal of mandatory vaccination of the population.
The UN also makes the point that Agenda 21 and the 2030 Agenda are not legally binding.
The Verdict
AAP FactCheck has determined the agenda items listed in the Facebook image are not UN goals as part of Agenda 21 nor the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as claimed.
Most of the significant terms in the post – such as establishing a new world order or cashless currency – do not appear in any of the above UN agendas, and the UN has stated the document is false.
False – The primary claim(s) of the content are factually inaccurate
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