Brunei, 2025

I now give the floor to His Excellency Dato' Erwan Pehin Yusuf, Second Minister for Foreign Affairs of Brunei Darussalam. Madam President, Mr. Secretary General, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Peace be upon you all. At the outset, I bring the warm greetings of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, Mu'izzad Din Wadawlah Sultan and Yang di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam to this esteemed Assembly. Allow me also to extend heartfelt congratulations to you, Excellency Annalena Babok, on assuming the presidency of this historic 80th session of the General Assembly. We wish you a successful tenure. I also express appreciation to His Excellency Filimon Yang for his leadership of the 79th session. And I commend Secretary General Antonio Guterres for his tireless service in guiding our organization through turbulence and uncertainty. Madam President, the 80th anniversary of the United Nations is more than a commemoration. It is a solemn opportunity for reflection and renewal. Before 1945, our world was fractured by war and colonial rule. From that devastation, the UN was born. Its charter is not just a legal text, but a moral covenant, a collective vow to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war and to stand against dehumanization of people. For small states like Brunei Darussalam, which regained full independence in 1984, membership in the UN affirmed not only sovereignty, but dignity, equality and belonging within the family of nations. This is why our commitment to this organization remains unwavering. It is the only forum where every nation, large or small, developed or developing, can stand and speak as equals. Over the course of eight decades, the UN has delivered remarkable progress. It helped prevent escalation of conflicts, supervised elections and restored stability to many parts of the world. It has eradicated smallpox, contained Ebola outbreaks and delivered hope during the COVID-19 pandemics. It feeds the hungry, educates the children and protects cultural heritage. The UN has led global climate action, forged development first through the Millennium Development Goals and later the Sustainable Development Goals. It has also helped to shape international law, from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which remains to be the constitution of the oceans. These achievements have inspired Brunei's own journey. We remain committed to nurturing peace and harmony, advancing sustainable development and pursuing environmental conservation and climate action. Regionally, we work through ASEAN to promote peace, prosperity and integration. We also engage beyond the region through our participation, among others in APEC, FIALAC, the Belt and Road Initiative and the CPTPP, to strengthen cooperation and enhance our development. Hosting the ASEAN Centre for Climate Change reflects our determination and commitment to turn our climate ambitions into actions. Guided by the principles of the United Nations, even a small country like Brunei Darussalam has found a place in the world, contributing to peace through humanitarian aid and peacekeeping. In the past, we supported relief and reconstruction efforts in Aceh following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and participated in peace monitoring in Mindanao. Today, we continue this role through the observer teams led by Malaysia, which were deployed to monitor the ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand. Additionally, we maintain our longstanding participation in the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon, where Bruneian women and men serve with dedication. Madam President, what the UN has achieved so far is not a minor feat. They are the very essence of our shared humanity. Yet, we would be dishonest to speak only of successes. The Security Council, the guardian of peace, has too often been paralyzed, restricted by veto, divided by interests, and mute in the face of grave injustice. Nowhere is this failure more glaring, more tragic than in Palestine. The inaction undermines not only the Council's credibility, but the very foundation of the United Nations. It reminds us why reform is not an option, but an urgent necessity. Brunei supports efforts to make the Security Council more representative, transparent, and accountable in its action, and to limit the use of veto towards its eventual elimination. Madam President, 80 years ago, after the horrors of the Second World War, humanity made a vow, never again, never again to genocide, never again to killing with impunity, never again to silence in the face of atrocity. Yet today, in Gaza, we see actions that betray that vow. Indiscriminate bombings, forced displacements, collective punishments, and weaponization of food and medicine. Entire neighborhoods in Gaza has been reduced to rubble under the guise of security. Children are born under blockade. Water is undrinkable. Electricity is a luxury. Freedom is a dream. We are told that this is about defense, but when bombs fall on schools, on hospitals, on houses of worship, when humanitarian aid workers, journalists, and medics are killed with impunity, what are they really defending? The suffering inflicted upon the Palestinian people bears chilling resemblance to the last century's darkest chapters, chapters marked by the Holocaust, by ethnic cleansing, and by the mass uprooting of entire populations during the Second World War. Today, to ignore such patterns of suffering is not neutrality, it's complicity. It is humanity abandoning its conscience. It is profoundly troubling that the very phrase, never again born from the ashes of the Holocaust, finds itself contradicted by the actions of the occupying regime. Its relentless pursuit of expansionism through annexation, illegal settlements, and the systematic erasure of Palestine expose the ideologies of the past, such as the Greater Germanic Reich, which once sought domination at the expense of justice and humanity. Both of these ideologies contradict international law and the collective vow of never again. Never again does not belong to one people alone. It is a universal promise for all mankind, and we should stop breaking that promise. Recognizing the state of Palestine and supporting its full membership in the UN is not a reward. It is an inherent right of the Palestinian people. It is a matter of principle, justice, and humanity. Brunei stands in unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people, and in this regard we fully support the New York Declaration endorsed at the High-Level Conference on the Question of Palestine, which was co-chaired by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the French Republic. We believe it offers a path for a just and lasting peace. We say all this not out of hatred, but out of hope for a future where both Palestinians and Israelis live in peace. Not with domination, but with dignity. Not with revenge, but with reconciliation. Madam President, the theme of this year's General Assembly, Better Together, is more than a slogan. It is a responsibility. It means renewing our faith in multilateralism. It means strengthening the United Nations' three pillars, peace and security, human rights and development. And it means embracing inclusivity, transparency, and respect. For small states, multilateralism is not an option. It is our lifeline. As we confront climate change, pandemics, inequality, and conflict, no nation can stand alone. Only together can we secure a peaceful, just, and sustainable world for generations that are yet to come. The United Nations at 80 is not only about history. It is about a promise. A promise to be better together. A promise to ensure no voice is silenced and no nation, regardless of its size, is left behind. And so, I end this speech by quoting the words of His Majesty, the Sultan and Yang di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, spoken in this very hall last year during the Summit of the Future. I quote, Let us reaffirm our commitment to upholding the UN Charter and international law without prejudice or discrimination to unite our nations strongly. End quote. So let us reaffirm multilateralism because the world is watching us, because the future is listening, and because together, only together, we will endure and keep the promise of never again. Thank you very much.