We investigate the relationship between the generalized uncertainty principle in quantum gravity and the quantum deformation of the Poincar\'e algebra. We find that a deformed Newton-Wigner position operator and the generators of spatial translations and rotations of the deformed Poincar\'e algebra obey a deformed Heisenberg algebra from which the generalized uncertainty principle follows. The result indicates that in the $\kappa$-deformed Poincar\'e algebra a minimal observable length emerges naturally.