Editing Seabed Arms Control Treaty (section)

==History==
In the 1960s, advances in the [[technology]] of [[oceanography]] and greatly increased interest in the vast and virtually untapped resources of the ocean floor led to concern that the absence of clearly established rules of law might lead to strife. There were concurrent fears that nations might use the seabed as a new environment for military installations, including those capable of launching nuclear weapons.

In keeping with a proposal submitted to the [[UN Secretary-General|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." The committee was given permanent status the following year. At the same time, seabed-related military and arms control issues were referred to the [[Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament]] (ENDC) and its successor, the [[Conference of the Committee on Disarmament]] (CCD). In a message of 18 March 1969, President [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] said the American delegation to the ENDC should seek discussion of the factors necessary for an international agreement prohibiting the emplacement of weapons of mass destruction on the seabed and ocean floor and pointed out that an agreement of this kind would, like the Antarctic and Outer Space treaties, "prevent an arms race before it has a chance to start."