UN General Assembly
1976

131. Similarly, we could not remain silent as regards the exploration and exploitation of the resources of the sea-bed, which are the common heritage of mankind. Those resources should be used for the harmonious development of the international community as a whole, and that result cannot be achieved if the authority and the enterprise to which all States are to belong do not have the appropriate legal and financial means for that purpose. 132. However, we all know that there are other things involved besides direct economic interests which hamper the progress of the work of that Conference. The sharing of the oceans is part of international military strategy. The great marine spaces, like outer space, have become privileged territory where man is beginning to establish his bases for the launching of weapons of destruction.