ERC writes parties over divisive statements

Up to Tuesday, the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) had officially written to parties contesting the upcoming polls, including the incumbent APNU+AFC and the opposition PPP/C, to cite them for public utterances, behaviour and ads “deemed unhelpful” to the promotion of harmony and tolerance.

The ERC said in a statement on Thursday that through its elections monitors, who have so far monitored a high percentage of the public meetings of all the political parties, it had observed the use of “ethnically divisive language” and the use of religion to disparage, racial and political profiling/stereotyping and disruption on various occasions.

From the numerous incidents flagged, it said 21 warranted official responses, including 11 to Lt. Col. (Ret’d) Joseph Harmon, who is the co-chair of APNU+AFC campaign, and eight to PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo.

It also noted that two incidents are under active investigation.

Meanwhile, the Commission also said that through its Media Monitoring Unit (MMU), it has monitored the Facebook pages of various news agencies and found that numerous persons had made ethnically offensive comments under the posts made by the agencies. “The Commission, in response, cautioned those persons for making such comments and has called on the Editors-inChief of INEWS, Demerara Waves, HGP TV Nightly News and NCN News to stringently monitor their Facebook Pages so as to ensure ethnically offensive comments are removed in a timely manner,” it said.

Additionally, the ERC added that A New and United Guyana, (ANUG) has been written to regarding one of its advertisements that was deemed to be unhelpful to ongoing efforts to eliminate inherited racial stereotypes.

“In all of the cases that necessitated a response, the Commission reiterated the need for a more responsible approach by all Parties and the need for collective effort to aid the process of fostering national harmony,” the statement added.