Address By
The Honourable Dato Erywan Pehin Yusof,
Minister of Foreign Affairs II of Brunei Darussalam
At the General Debate of
the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
27 September 2025, New York
Theme:
"Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights"
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim
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'izzaddin Waddaulah, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, to this esteemed Assembly.
Allow me also to extend heartfelt congratulations to Her Excellency Annalena Baerbock on assuming the Presidency of this historic 80th Session of the General Assembly. We wish her a successful tenure.
I also express appreciation to His Excellency Philémon Yang for his leadership of the 79th Session, and I commend Secretary-General António Guterres for his tireless service in guiding our Organisation 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 the dehumanisation 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 Organisation 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 the 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 pandemic. 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 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 in APEC, FEALAC, the Belt and Road Initiative, and the CPTPP to strengthen cooperation and enhance development. Hosting the ASEAN Centre for Climate Change reflects our determination to turn our climate ambitions into action.
Guided by the principles of the United Nations, even a small country like Brunei Darussalam has found its 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 long-standing 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 paralysed, 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,
Eighty 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 weaponisation of food and medicine.
Entire neighbourhoods in Gaza have 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 this is about defence. 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 is 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 echoes 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 humankind. And we should stop breaking that promise.
Recognising 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, 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 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 size, is left behind.
And so, I end 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 and 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.
Let us reaffirm multilateralism.
Because the world is watching. Because the future is listening. And because together, only together we will endure and keep the promise of 'Never Again'.
Thank you.
