We’ve been asked by readers on Whatsapp to look at claims about something called “Agenda 2030”, and its links to claims that Covid-19 is being used to begin the “enslavement of humanity”.
Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development refers to a plan agreed to by member states of the United Nations in 2015, which includes 17 global goals to do things like reduce inequality, end world hunger and ensure access to clean energy for all.
A video on Instagram claims: “They’re telling you, this absolute scamdemic is to usher in the new Agenda 2030 sustainable development…further enslavement of humanity, further rules and regulations and statutes…Covid-19 is used as a disguise to usher that in.”
In the video, a person can be seen scrolling through a transcript of speech made by Lord Ahmad, the Minister for South Asia and the Commonwealth at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, from September 2020.
In the short speech, he talks about how the pandemic has “exposed our vulnerabilities” and that “whilst we remain committed to tackling its immediate impacts, we must also seize this opportunity to create greener, healthier, more inclusive and resilient economies and societies, and to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals”.
There is nothing in the speech that suggests the pandemic is being used to speed up Agenda 2030. Outside of the speech, there is no evidence that Covid-19 is being used to usher in rules that will enslave humanity as part of Agenda 2030. The UK government has announced plans to start easing lockdown restrictions in the coming months.
Other fact checkers have assessed general conspiracy theories about Agenda 2030, namely claims that it will create a world government or a “new world order”. There is no credible evidence for these claims.
One Facebook post uses genuine screenshots from the UK’s government’s website that refer to Agenda 2030.
The Facebook post also includes a screenshot from a white paper (documents written by the government that propose future legislation) about the “fourth industrial revolution” that mentions “artificial intelligence, gene editing and advanced robotics”.
It’s not clear what the post is implying by including this, but genome editing (where the DNA inside a cell is changed) in human eggs, sperm or embryos is strictly regulated in the UK. It can’t be done as part of IVF, and if it is used in research, it has to be specifically licenced by the authorities.