UN General Assembly
1977

139. As regards the law of the sea, I wish to say that when the United Nations Conference on this subject approaches its goal there will be pitfalls which may lead to a resounding failure. On the one hand there are attempts to change the jurisdiction of coastal States over the maritime areas adjacent to their coasts which are affected by the essentially codifying nature of work in this field. On the other hand there are the difficult negotiations on the sea-bed, which are politically explosive and methodologically bogged down and have been further hampered by threats of unilateral action or simply of abandonment, which jeopardizes what is a common heritage of mankind.