In keeping with a proposal submitted to the U.N. Secretary General by Ambassador Pardo of Malta in August 1967, the U.N. General Assembly, on 18 December 1967, established an ad hoc committee to study ways of reserving the seabed for peaceful purposes, with the objective of ensuring "that the exploration and use of the seabed and the ocean floor should be conducted in accordance with the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations, in the interests of maintaining international peace and security and for the benefit of all mankind."
根据马耳他驻联合国大使帕尔多于1967年8月向联合国秘书长提出的建议，1967年12月18日的联合国大会指定一个特别委员会研究和平利用海底的问题，目标是保证：“对海洋底部的开发和利用必须遵守联合国宪章的原则和目标，要有利于维护国际和平和安全，要造福于全人类”。