Young people should have a bigger role in top-level decision-making processes, Ian Borg told the United Nations’ most important and powerful organ on Wednesday.

Addressing the UN Security Council as its president for the month of April, Malta's Foreign Affairs Minister noted that one in every three people in the Mediterranean region is aged under 25.

Those people, he said, have been “sidelined and excluded from decision-making processes”.

“This has rendered them unable to access the needed support to sustain their conflict prevention and peacebuilding initiatives. They also continue to be victims of stereotypes and discrimination, sometimes seen only as troublemakers or conducive to violent extremism and radicalisation,” he said.

“Many young persons still struggle to access basic rights to quality education, healthcare, and decent work. Many face life-threatening risks on a daily basis, especially in situations of conflict. Across the region, these challenges are most severe for girls and young women.”

Borg was speaking at the beginning of a UN Security Council high-level debate on young people's role in achieving peace and security in the Mediterranean.

He called on the Council to offer more space to young people seeking to build peace, by involving them in United Nations’ affairs, peacekeeping efforts and special political missions more often.

Middle East tensions rise

Meanwhile, as tensions rise in the Middle East, efforts at the United Nations are focused on maintaining stability and avoiding further conflict escalation.

Israel has vowed to retaliate against Iran following an unprecedented missile and drone attack it repelled over the weekend.

Late last Saturday, Iran and allied groups launched over 300 missiles and drones carrying a combined payload of 85 tonnes at Israel, according to the Israeli army.

Damage and casualties were limited as Israel's air defences intercepted most of them with the help of US, British, French and Jordanian forces.

Iran launched the attack in retaliation to a deadly strike on its consulate building in Syrian capital Damascus earlier this month, which many media reports, citing Israeli sources, said came from Israel. 

The US and the EU are pressuring Israel to refrain from striking back, and both have instead vowed to ramp up sanctions against the Islamic republic.

It remains unclear how and when Israel might strike, and whether any such strike would target Iran directly or attack its interests or allies abroad in places such as Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Middle East tensions – which have soared amid the Israel-Hamas war raging in Gaza since October 7 – have been stoked further as Iran has vowed to continue the tit-for-tat if Israel launches any further attacks.

Following Iran's attacks, Malta, as UN Security Council president, convened an urgent Council meeting to discuss developments and a way forward.

Security Council to vote on Palestinian UN membership

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council will vote Thursday on the Palestinians' application to become a full UN member state, several diplomatic sources have said.

The Palestinians revived a membership application first made to the world body in 2011, though the veto-wielding United States has repeatedly expressed opposition to the proposal.

The General Assembly can admit a new member state with a two-thirds majority vote, but only after the Security Council gives its recommendation.

The Security Council is the United Nations’ most important and powerful organ.

Malta currently sits on the Council as a non-permanent member and is also serving as the council’s president for the month of April.

‘Climate change affecting Mediterranean severely’

On Wednesday, Borg said geopolitical tensions, violent extremism, conflict, terrorism, maritime security problems, human rights violations, socio-economic inequalities, climate change and cyber security must be addressed at their root causes through cooperation among countries in the region.

He also stressed the climate crisis is reaching a critical point, especially in the Mediterranean, which “is one of the regions which is most sensitive to climate change”.

“Climate change is, already now, affecting the Mediterranean region so severely that the structures we have in place may no longer be effective when it strikes,” he said. 

“Sudden onset extreme weather events have until recently caused death and destruction among our neighbours, overwhelming governments, and annihilating decades of development.”

Its effects are destabilising societies, threatening food security, water resources and people’s health, he said, and sea-level rises could impact coastal economies and critical infrastructures.

Despite only making up a fraction of the world’s oceans, the Mediterranean accounts for a quarter of all sea trade.

The UN Security Council meeting is ongoing.