On June 7, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vaidutė Ščiglienė, the Chairwoman of the Heritage Commission, presented a lecture titled “From Panemunė to the Faro Convention” at the conference “Interactions Between Communities and Heritage,” organized by the Faculty of History of Vilnius University.
The lecture covered three narratives: the first used Panemunė Castle as a case study in the context of local communities; the second addressed why the Faro Convention has not and cannot be ratified in Lithuania; and the third explored aspects of incorporating the convention into national law without ratification.
The risks of the Faro Convention in the context of national security
Since 2017, the Heritage Commission has been examining the principles of the Faro Convention and Lithuania’s potential accession. However, plans could not be realized due to negative assessments from the Lithuanian Armed Forces and the State Security Department of the Republic of Lithuania. The military argued that the convention could be used to falsify history and support pseudo-community organizations. In 2020, the military maintained this position, and by June 2022, due to intensified hybrid threats, their stance became even stricter, stating that the convention could be used to justify Russian aggression.
Heritage Commission is an expert and advisor to the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania, President of the Republic of Lithuania and to Government of the Republic of Lithuania regarding the national policy of cultural heritage protection, its implementation, evaluation and improvement.