Secrets of the Deep.

• Author: Vallarta, Jose Luis

Approximately 30 years ago, Dr. Arvid Pardo, the Permanent Representative of Malta to the United Nations, asked the international community: To whom do the ocean floor and its subsoil belong? He opened a Pandora's box that launched a true revolution on the international law of the sea. Dr. Pardo referred to the above-mentioned submarine international zone and its resources as the "common heritage of mankind". That concept was translated into Spanish as "patrimonio comun de la humanidad" and into French as "patrimoine commun de l'humanite". In Spanish, and I assume also in French, the term "patrimonio" has a clearly defined legal connotation as the ensemble of goods belonging to a person-natural or juridical. A United Nations Committee was established to study this matter; English-speaking delegations refused to accept the term patrimony apparently for linguistic reasons, also because Dr. Pardo used the term heritage. Very probably, industrialized nations preferred to use a term deprived of precise legal conno tation. When the first report of that Committee expressed a broad area of disagreement, Ambassadors Alfonso Garcia Robles of Mexico and Ramiro Saraiba Guerriero of Brazil developed the idea of declaring a moratorium to avoid exploitation of the seabed resources until an international regime could be established. Their draft resolution was approved by the General Assembly, with the support mainly of developing countries. Industrialized countries rejected the moratorium since, from the beginning of this exercise, their position was to reserve the right to exploit the seabed, independent from the international regime to be established, unless that regime was favourable to their national interests. At that time, most Governments believed that the exploitation of the deep seabed was near.

I would like to pay homage to the memory of Ambassador Garcia Robles, whose name in those days was mentioned as a possible Secretary-General of the United Nations. Ambassador Garcia Robles did not hesitate; he thought the moratoria was the right thing to do and, in promoting it, he irritated several permanent members of the Security Council whose support, he knew, was essential to be elected Secretary General.

When the General Assembly approved the Declaration of Principles Governing the Seabed and the Ocean Floor, and the Subsoil. Thereof, beyond the Limits of National Jurisdiction, and recognizing that the ocean floor and its resources are the "common...