In Xovember the Seabeds Committee discussed the Draft Treaty on 

 Prohibition of the Emplacement of Nuclear Weapons and other weapons 

 of Mass Destruction on the Ocean Floor and the Subsoil thereof, which was 

 then before the General Assembly for consideration. But the Seabeds Com- 

 mittee did not seek to arrive at any conclusion or recommendations. 



In the fall of 1969 the 24th U.N. General Assembly reviewed the .Seabeds 

 Committee's report and debated it at length in the Political Committee. In 

 December, the Assembly adopted four resolutions 2574 A-D 'XXIV^ . on 

 seabeds — 



(1) Requesting the Secretary General to ascertain the \-iew5 of 

 member states on the desirability of convening at an early date a Law 

 of the Sea Conference dealing with the full range of law-of-the-sea 

 issues, including the seabed ; 



(2 Referring substantive seabed issues entrusted to it back to the 

 Seabeds Committee and asking the Committee to prepare a comprehen- 

 sive, balanced set of principles in time for the 2.5th General Assembly; 



(3) Requesting the .Secretary- General to prepare a further study 

 on various t\-pe5 of international machinerv-, particularly a study on 

 machinery with extensive p)owers; and 



(4-) Declaring that states and persons, physical or juridical, are 

 bound to refrain from all acti\-ities of exploitation of the resources of 

 the deep seabeds, pending the establishment of an international 

 regime.' 



The United States opposed the first of these resolutions because it belie\'es 

 that treating all of the law-of-the-sea issues, including seabeds, at a single 

 Law of the Sea Conference would only increase the diflBcult\' of making 

 progress on any of these issues. The United States cosponsored the second 

 resolution, because it considers that the Seabeds Committee is the proper 

 international forum for performing the in-depth work necessary- to move 

 forward on important seabeds issues. On the third resolution, the United 

 States took the \-iew that a further study by the Secretary- General would be 

 a useful supplement to his earlier report. The U.S. representative stressed, 

 however, that the report should be balanced and not weighted in favor 

 of one tv^pe of machinery as compared with other possibilities. The United 

 States strenuously opposed the fourth resolution, wiiich amounted to a 

 call for the prohibition of all further exploitation of the deep seabeds. 

 pointing out that such a freeze would be unwise and could spur initiatives 

 for national extensions of jurisdictions over the seabeds. The United States 

 observed that the resolution also ran contrary- to the spirit of Resolution 2467 

 (XXIII), which had created the U.N. Seabeds Committee to promote 

 international cooperation in exploration and exploitation of the seabeds. 



In developing its position for discussing substantive issues in the U.N. 

 Seabeds Committee and in the General Assembly, the Government consulted 

 with Members of Congress and the public. In 1970, March and August 

 sessions of the U.N. Seabeds Committee are scheduled. 



' The texts of the U.N. resolutions of 1969 are presented in app. D-1. 



185 



