The Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) is a Constitutional body established by Constitution (Amendment) (No.2) Act No.11 of 2000 which amends Article 212 D of the Constitution to provide for the establishment of the Commission.
The genesis of the ERC lies in the Herdmanston Accord signed on January 17, 1998 that provided for the establishment of a Constitutional Reform Commission (CRC).
The CRC in its Report to the National Assembly on July 17, 1999, recommended that the Constitution shall establish an adequately-funded, suitably broad-based Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) comprising representatives of religious bodies, labour movement, the private business sector, youth and women.
The entities of each group identified one Nominee and one Substitute to serve as their representatives and on March 8, 2002 the ERC was established. The Commission was recently reconstituted with the swearing-in of (10) ten new Commissioners in March 2023 by H.E. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.
