VILNIUS - Still reeling from a no-fly zone and the flying ban on most commercial airlines through Europe, a bitter consequenceof the coronavirus, Lithuania has been dealt another blow: an internationalboycott against tourism in Lithuania. The protest will mean that thousands of jobs in the tourist sector in Lithuania will be lost.
The boycott is a result of the Lithuanian government’s ill-fated decision to construct a conference centre on a Jewish cemetery, in violation of the Geneva Convention and the EU Charter of Human Rights. The respective charters prohibit thedesecration of a cemetery.
Dr. Mathew Anthony Harper, a White House press spokesman for Christian news networks declared that the Lithuanian government’s decision tobuild the conference centre is atrocious. Dr. Harper together with prominentmembers of the international Jewish community have indicated that they willboycott Lithuanian tourism, if steps to initiate the construction go ahead. A petition signed by leaders from a broad spectrumof religious denominations, unequivocally declared the government’s proposal asa desecration of a Jewish cemetery. The cemetery ishome to tens of thousands holy Jewish scholars who are buried on the site. Thehistorical site has origins which go back over 500 years.
The initial plan to build the conferencecentre in Vilnius on the Jewish cemetery is being viewed as consequence ofsystemic antisemitism within the Lithuanian government.
An independent poll conducted by the CBDNews Corporation concluded that 63% of Europeans would support the boycott and not visit Lithuania, if thegovernment went ahead with its plans.
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Barry Jenkins
Human Right’s Watch (Europe)
Website: https://telegra.ph/Lithuanian-Tourist-Industry-Suffers-Setback-06-02
Email: digitalcontentlondon@gmail.com
