What It's Really Like Being a Small State at the UN

Imagine showing up to the most important meeting in the world. You’re representing your entire country. And you have a team of three people. Three.

That’s the reality for a lot of small nations at the United Nations.

This is part of my retelling of “50 Years of Singapore and the United Nations” (Tommy Koh, Li Lin Chang, Joanna Koh, 2015, ISBN: 978-9814713030).

Chapter 7 is written by Albert Chua, who served as Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York from 2011 to 2013. He lays out what it actually feels like to be a small country in a system built around big powers. And he shares some specific examples of how Singapore found ways to matter.

Most Countries at the UN Are Small

Here’s something most people don’t realize. Out of 193 UN member states, at least 105 are considered small. That’s more than half. These countries are all members of the Forum of Small States (FOSS), and they all have populations under 10 million.

They’re a mixed group too. Luxembourg, Laos, Tonga. Rich, poor, islands, landlocked. Very different situations but one thing in common: they’re all small and they all face the same basic problem.

Big countries set the rules. Small countries live with them.

The Four Big Challenges

Chua breaks down the problems small states face into four main areas. And honestly, once you see it laid out like this, you start to understand why global politics works the way it does.

1. Tiny teams, huge workload. Many small countries send missions to New York with just three diplomats. Sometimes fewer. These three people have to cover six General Assembly committees, the Security Council, ECOSOC, and all the other UN bodies. That’s an insane amount of work for a tiny group.

2. Nobody listens to you. Getting heard is hard. Getting your interests actually included in decisions is even harder. Small states just don’t have the political weight to demand attention.

3. You don’t make the rules. Chua puts it bluntly: small states are “price-takers, not price-setters” in global politics. They don’t design the world order. But because they’re small, the world order matters more to them than it does to anyone else. A bad rule can be a survival threat.

4. You can’t always speak freely. Taking a bold stand on principle at the UN sounds great. But when you’re a small country, big powers can punish you for it. Just look at voting records, Chua says. Countries don’t always vote their conscience. They vote based on who’s watching.

If You Don’t Have a Seat at the Table, You’re on the Menu

This is the line from the chapter that stuck with me. Chua uses it to describe the basic dilemma of small states.

At the UN, every country gets one vote. On paper, everyone is equal. But in practice? The five permanent Security Council members (the P5) have veto power. And if you’re not in the room when decisions are made, those decisions might hurt you.

Small states have to find ways to make themselves relevant. Otherwise, they just get ignored. And being ignored can be dangerous.

Chua mentions a few strategies. Switzerland chose strict neutrality. Some countries attached themselves to a bigger power for protection. But Singapore took a different path.

Singapore’s Approach: Find Your Niche

Chua brings up Darwin here, which I thought was interesting. He says it’s not the strongest or fastest that survive. It’s the ones that adapt best. Small states need to find their “ecological niche” - the area where they can actually contribute something unique.

Singapore’s niche came from a few things. First, it doesn’t depend on any country for aid. That gives it freedom to speak honestly. Second, it doesn’t campaign for many UN positions, so it doesn’t owe favors. Third, it has a strong reputation built on real economic success.

But Chua adds a warning. That reputation only lasts as long as the success does. If Singapore stops being economically strong and politically stable, its international standing will fade fast.

Sustainable Cities: A Win at Rio+20

Here’s where Chua gets into specific examples from his time as ambassador.

In 2011, he and Sweden teamed up to push the sustainable cities agenda at the UN. They formed a “Group of Friends” with 29 member states from all regions. The idea was simple: by 2050, 70% of the world’s population will live in cities. If we build cities badly, we make every problem worse. If we build them right, cities become a solution.

They reached out to governments, local authorities, and NGOs. Built a real political coalition. And when the Rio+20 Conference came around in 2012, the section on sustainable cities was the least controversial part of the entire outcome document. That’s a huge deal in UN negotiations where everything gets fought over.

The final document stated that cities “can promote economically, socially and environmentally sustainable societies” if they’re planned well. Not exactly poetry. But in UN language, that’s a win.

World Toilet Day (Yes, Really)

Singapore also championed getting November 19 designated as World Toilet Day. I know it sounds funny. Chua even acknowledges the risk of becoming “the butt of many toilet jokes.”

But the numbers are serious. At the time of writing, 2.5 billion people didn’t have proper sanitation. 1.1 billion people defecated in the open. A UN study found more people had access to mobile phones than toilets.

Girls were skipping school because there were no safe toilets. Ending open defecation could cut childhood diarrhea deaths by 35%. That’s 760,000 children under five dying every year from something preventable.

Singapore picked this issue because it could make a huge difference for the world’s poorest people. Health, gender equality, economic development - all connected to basic sanitation. The resolution passed by consensus with over 100 co-sponsors.

Sometimes the “small” issues are actually the biggest ones.

The Small Five vs. the Permanent Five

This part of the chapter is probably the most eye-opening.

Security Council reform has been talked about for over 20 years. Everyone agrees the Council should be more representative. But nothing changes. Chua shares an amazing moment: during negotiations, a P5 ambassador straight up said his country had a seat because it won the last World War. Basically saying the Council could only change if there was another World War.

So instead of pushing for expansion (which was never going to happen), Singapore joined four other small countries - Costa Rica, Jordan, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland - to form the “Small Five” or S5. Their goal was modest: just reform the working methods of the Security Council. Make it more transparent, more inclusive, more accountable.

You’d think most UN members would support this, right? After all, 188 out of 193 countries are not on the Security Council. But here’s what happened.

In May 2012, the S5 put forward a draft resolution. One of its proposals asked P5 members to consider not using their veto to block action on genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Seems reasonable.

The P5 went into full opposition mode. Even the ones who publicly supported the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principle refused any limits on their veto power. Behind the scenes, they pressured the UN’s Office of Legal Affairs to change its interpretation of what majority was needed to pass the resolution. A P5 member then leaked this new legal opinion to all member states on the morning of the vote, along with a message to support blocking the resolution.

The S5 withdrew the resolution. Not because it was wrong, but because other countries were too scared to stand up to the P5.

That’s what being a small state at the UN looks like. You can be right. You can have the numbers. And you can still lose.

Small but Not Powerless

Chua ends on a hopeful note though. He uses a tai chi metaphor - the idea of using a small force to redirect a much larger one. “Four ounces of strength to counteract a force of a thousand pounds.”

Small states are not powerless. They just have to be smart. Pick the right battles. Build coalitions. Find niches where they can add real value.

The UN, for all its problems, is still the best arena for small countries. It’s the one place where the rule of law, not just the rule of force, is supposed to matter. And small states have every reason to fight to keep it that way.

Because the alternative - a world where only power matters - is a world where small countries don’t survive very long.

About the Author of This Chapter: Albert Chua is Second Permanent Secretary in Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He served as Singapore’s High Commissioner to Australia (2008-2011) and as Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York (2011-2013).

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