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survey, the proposals and the comments be submitted to the twenty-third session 

 of the General Assembly through the Economic and Social Council. 



Quite a long and arduous journey, and it will be noticed also that the action 

 so far is consigned to surveys of progress made in the technology and in the iden- 

 tification of resources that were identified many years ago. 



Among inter-governmental bodies related to the United Nations system, there 

 is no doubt that the fifty-eight-member International Oceanographic Commission, 

 created by UNESCO in 1960, to co-ordinate oceanographic research at the inter- 

 governmental level, has been the most active with regard to the specific question 

 which we are now considering, that is the sea-bed and the ocean floor beyond 

 the geophysical continental shelf. 



The Commission has interpreted its terms of reference broadly and has been 

 most active in promoting scientific co-operation at the inter-governmental level 

 in all matters concerning the marine environment. 



Recently the Commission has become increasingly concerned by the uncer- 

 tainties and grave inadequacies of current international law in so far as it affects 

 scientific investigation of the oceans. This year the Soviet Union proposed that 

 the International Oceanographic Commission create a special working group on 

 legal aspects of the studies of the ocean and utilization of oceanic resources in 

 order to 



". . . prepare drafts of: (a) a convention on the basic principles of conducting 

 scientific research on the high seas, and (b) a convention on the international 

 norms of exploration and exploitation of the mineral resources of the high .seas". 



In addition the working group was to provide the IOC secretariat with advice 

 on legal aspects of scientific studies of the ocean. Finally, an international con- 

 ference was envisaged to discuss and adopt the draft conventions (AVS/9/89, 

 3 April 1967). I have not before me the records of the fifth session of IOC now 

 meeting at the headquarters of UNESCO ; it is possible, however, that some 

 delegations may have observed that the Soviet proposal concerning the prepara- 

 tion of a convention on the exploration and exploitation of the mineral resources 

 of the high seas went somewhat beyond the competence of an exclusively scien- 

 tific organization. In any case the International Oceanographic Commission in 

 its resolution adopted a few days ago, on 27 October, limited itself to estab- 

 lishing a 



"working group on legal questions related to scientific investigations of the 

 ocean", 

 and charged this group with : 



"(a) considering legal aspects specifically related to scientific investigations 

 of the nature and . . . resources of the ocean . . . with a view to indicating 

 legal principles which should facilitate and guide scientific research . . . 



"(b) preparing documentation concerning the effect of the law of the sea on 

 scientific research and proposals relating both to the contribution of scientific 

 knowledge to the development of the law of the sea and to the participation of 

 the IOC in the deliberations of the United Nations and appropriate specialized 

 bodies to assist them in taking proper account of scientific interests ... in the 

 consideration of the further development of the law of the sea." 

 I am sorry the language is so involved, but it is not my language. 



The International Oceanographic Commission in that resolution also informs 

 the United Nations of the establishment of this working group and declares its 

 readiness : 



"(a) to assist in the consideration of the possible future development of the 

 law of the sea, from the point of view of the scientific interests involved, and 



(b) to assist in the acquisition and distribution of scientific knowledge . . . 

 necessary for the optimum use of the seas in the interests of mankind. . . ." 



This information, I think, should be considered by the General Assembly as 

 an invitation to it to act in this matter. 



From what I have stated I believe it can be reasonably deduced that while 

 the specialized agencies and the United Nations itself may be doing valuable 

 technical work in the fields within their competence, their activities have no 

 prospect in any way of diminishing the pressures making for the competitive 

 appropriation for national purposes of the sea-bed and ocean floor, nor do 

 their activities give much prospect of coping effectively with massive problems 

 I if world-wide scope such as the problem of the pollution of the marine environ- 

 ment, since there is a complete lack of a general institutional framework which 

 can provide focus and efficient direction to the fragmented activities that are 



