UN General Assembly
1992

proposal - approved by the Human Rights Committee at the beginning of this year for a treaty on prevention of torture. The negotiations on the complex problems of South Africa and the Middle East are doubtless of great importance to the cause of human rights. In this and other forums my country has rigorously condemned the apartheid regime, an offensive and unjustifiable anachronism that deprives the majority of the South African people of their fundamental rights. We have welcomed, with optimism, the beginning of negotiations between the Pretoria regime and the African National Congress, and we firmly hope that, leaving aside the reprehensible acts that have occurred in Ciskei and other parts of South Africa, the renewed peace talks will soon lead to the construction of a new, democratic and peace-loving South Africa that will work towards the development of the entire continent. Costa Rica urges that resolute steps be taken in that direction. The need for long-lasting peace in the Middle East has been a matter of constant concern to the United Nations almost ever since it was established.