ERC to work to ensure peace after 2011 polls

TIMES INT'L
The Ethnic R e l a t i o n sC o m m i s s i o nChairman, Bishop JuanEdghill, announced onTuesday that it willwork in earnest to ensurethat peace prevailsduring next year’s generalelections.The ERC over thepast month has engagedin cross-country visitsthroughout all the regions.It was during thisoutreach that the commissionwas charged byGuyanese in differentparts of the country tohelp ensure Guyana experiencespeace duringthe usually touchy periodof elections next year.“The ERC and itswork programme andcontributions made forthe hosting of peacefulelections in 2006,”Edghill said, adding thatthere are several activitiesplanned to achievethis goal.“With the electionsmonitoring programme,we will be monitoringcontent, as opposed tocoverage, as is the roleof the Media MonitoringUnit. The ERC has a ruleunder the Representationof the People Act wherethere are penalties thatwe can give if partiesare in breach of any ofthe rules. One exampleis that candidates mustnot use race or religionas a means of winningan election,” he said.He stated that the ERCmust monitor everythingthat happens in all typesof media during the electionsperiod. However,he said that this processwill not start until theNew Year, when electionsdraw nearer.The chairman addedthat focus will be placedon engaging membersof the media and politicians,and getting themto understand key issuesin the elections process.“It seems that thework of the ERC is makingthe necessary impact.We will thereforeset up more programmesto engage media, politiciansand administratorsacross the country,”he said.On Thursday, thecommission will teamup with the PrivateSector Commission at aone day conference thatwill seek to achieve thesame racial and socialcohesion among peoplein the workplace. It isopen to small, mediumand large scale businesses.The conference willbe held under the theme“Promoting the developmentof harmonious relationsbetween ethnicgroups and removingbarriers to participation:ensuring equal opportunitiesand access for all”.

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