HC Deb 24 July 1969 vol 787 cc467-8W
Mr. Luard

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government with regard to the principle proposed by other United Nations member States that the resources of the seabed are the common heritage of mankind.

Mr. Mulley

Her Majesty's Government subscribe to the following view, expressed in the communiqué issued following the Commonwealth Prime Minister's Meeting in London on January, 1969, that the area of the seabed and ocean floor beyond the limits of present national jurisdiction, for which a precise definition should be sought, should be accorded a special legal status as part of the common heritage of mankind. I reaffirmed this view in the House yesterday. We shall aim to make progress towards reaching an international concensus on this subject at the meeting of the United Nations Sea Bed Committee in August.—[Vol. 787, c. 1798.]

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