When Rules Matter More Than Size

In a world where power can bend rules, what protects the small? At the UN, Brunei’s message is simple but far-reaching: international law must mean the same thing for everyone. From Palestine to ASEAN, the real test is not what nations promise — but whether those promises are honoured.

When Rules Matter More Than Size

At the United Nations, Brunei makes the case that international law must protect the weak as surely as it restrains the strong

Malai Hassan Othman

NEW YORK, Sept 26 — Brunei Darussalam has told the United Nations that international law must apply equally to all nations, large and small, warning that the world body’s credibility is at stake if its rules bend to power.

Delivering Brunei’s national statement at the General Debate of the 81st Session of the UN General Assembly, Minister of Foreign Affairs His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Mateen said that, for his country, multilateralism is not a theory but a safeguard.

“For Brunei Darussalam, multilateralism is not an intellectual concept,” he said. “It is the assurance that sovereignty and territorial integrity will be respected; that every nation, irrespective of size, has a voice; and that international law protects the weak as surely as it restrains the strong.”

Prince ‘Abdul Mateen, accompanied by Yang Amat Mulia Pengiran Anak Isteri Anisha Rosnah binti Adam, conveyed the greetings of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah to the Assembly, which met under the theme “Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations that Delivers for All”.

A world short of trust

He began with trust, which he described as something the world is “losing far too quickly”.

“It is difficult to build, easy to fracture and, once lost, very hard to restore,” he said. Without it, “treaties risk becoming little more than words” and institutions “become arenas for accusation”.

The danger, he said, is not only falling confidence between countries but “a growing crisis of faith in the rules meant to bind us together”. When nations believe rules are applied differently depending on power, they turn inward and act alone. That leaves “smaller and more vulnerable States particularly exposed”.

The UN Charter must therefore remain the common foundation for all. “It cannot mean one thing in one crisis and something different in another,” he said.

Why size matters

This is the heart of Brunei’s argument, and it comes from the country’s own position.

The General Assembly is one of the few major world forums where size does not decide a country’s formal voice. Each of the 193 Member States has one equal vote. For a small state with limited military and economic weight, that equality, and the rules behind it, is a key protection. Its security and interests rest heavily on diplomacy, cooperation and respect for agreed principles.

When those principles are applied selectively, small states feel it first.

Palestine: “a defining test”

Few issues show this more painfully than Palestine, the Minister said.

“For generations, the Palestinian people have waited for justice, statehood and dignity,” he said. “They cannot be asked to wait indefinitely for rights that are already theirs.”

In Gaza, he said, the scale of human suffering and destruction is “intolerable”. Civilians, including far too many children, continue to bear the heaviest cost, while medics, journalists, humanitarian workers and UN personnel have lost their lives carrying out their duties. “This suffering cannot become normal.”

In the West Bank, he said, Palestinians continue to endure occupation, expanding illegal settlements, settler violence and displacement from their homes and land.

“There cannot be one standard for some, and another for others,” he said.

A just and lasting peace, he added, requires addressing the root cause of the conflict and realising the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and an independent State of Palestine based on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

“Without justice for the Palestinian people, there can be no lasting peace.”

He called the issue “a defining test of the credibility of the United Nations and, particularly, the Security Council”.

Brunei pressed the same message earlier in the week. At the high-level ministerial meeting of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, Prince ‘Abdul Mateen called for a permanent ceasefire, unhindered humanitarian access and the protection of civilians, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the annual coordination meeting of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) foreign ministers, he urged coordinated diplomacy and stronger engagement at the UN, particularly on Palestine.

Protecting those who serve peace

The conflict, the Minister warned, is no longer confined to Palestine. In neighbouring Lebanon, UN peacekeepers have also lost their lives.

Brunei co-sponsored UN Security Council Resolution 2823, which strengthens accountability for crimes against UN peacekeepers. “Those who serve under the United Nations flag must be protected,” he said. “But accountability cannot be episodic.”

ASEAN and a 50-year-old treaty

Turning to Southeast Asia, Prince ‘Abdul Mateen offered ASEAN as a practical example. “Despite our differences, ASEAN has chosen dialogue, restraint and continued engagement,” he said.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), signed in Bali in 1976. The Minister said the treaty gives regional expression to the same principles found in the UN Charter: respect for sovereignty, peaceful settlement of disputes, non-interference and cooperation among States.

“In this sense, the T.A.C. does not stand apart from the multilateral system. It reinforces it.”

The lesson, he said, is that institutions stay relevant “when rules are respected, dialogue stays open, and differences are managed peacefully. The same must be true for the United Nations.”

Reform that delivers

Brunei made clear it wants the UN to change, not stand still. “Rebuilding confidence does not mean returning to a world that no longer exists,” the Minister said. “It means equipping ourselves to face the world that is emerging.”

But change must be real. “Reform must not become an exercise in rearranging structures while confidence outside this Hall continues to erode,” he said.

Brunei supports the Pact for the Future and the UN80 Initiative, he said, adding that reform “must achieve more than efficiency. It must strengthen this Organisation’s credibility and its capacity to deliver.”

From New York to home

The Minister then brought the theme home. A United Nations that delivers for all “must ultimately deliver for the people”, he said. That is the spirit of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

For Brunei, this begins with Brunei Vision 2035 and its three goals: an educated, highly skilled and accomplished people; a high quality of life; and a dynamic and sustainable economy.

“A country is strong when its people are strong,” he said. National progress “cannot be measured by economic growth alone”, and “no one left behind” must be “more than a phrase”.

Here the global and the national meet. At both levels, trust is earned by delivery. Promises raise expectations; institutions win credibility only when those promises become results.

A busy week for a small state

The speech capped a full week of diplomacy in New York.

Prince ‘Abdul Mateen deposited Brunei’s ratification of the BBNJ Agreement, the UN treaty on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. He attended the ministerial meeting of the Global Governance Group (3G), an informal grouping of small and medium-sized states, and the ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, where he stressed tackling regional security challenges through diplomacy and respect for international law.

He also held bilateral meetings with the President of the 81st Session, Dr Khalilur Rahman; Commonwealth Secretary-General Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey; and ministers from the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Türkiye, Iran, Russia and Viet Nam.

Such work may look routine. For a small state, however, steady presence is itself a form of influence. It keeps channels open and national interests visible in rooms that might otherwise be dominated by the major powers.

A small voice at a large table

The world will remain unequal in size, wealth and power. Brunei’s message in New York was that this need not decide whose voice counts.

“The United Nations we build today will shape the world the next generation inherits,” the Minister said. “We owe them a world in which cooperation remains stronger than conflict; where dialogue remains preferable to confrontation; where international law does not bend according to size or strength; and where justice is not determined by power.”

He closed with a challenge to the Assembly: “The world does not need another promise that we fail to keep. It needs us to honour the promises we have already made.”

“Brunei Darussalam is ready to play its part.”