The Aegis Trust campaigns against crimes against humanity and genocide. Aegis runs the Kigali Memorial Centre in Rwanda (with Kigali City Council) and the Holocaust Memorial and Educational Centre in the UK. It provides research and advocacy support to the All Party Parliamentary Groups on the Prevention of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity in the UK and Canada. Aegis also runs 'Wanted for War Crimes' a new project designed to bring suspected war criminals to justice, and campaigns for a sustainable peace in the Sudan.
Aegis was established in 2000. The word Aegis means 'Shield' or 'Protection', reflecting the need to protect vulnerable people against genocide and crimes against humanity. Aegis activities include: research, policy, education, remembrance, media work, campaigns and humanitarian support for victims.
Aegis Research, Policy and Campaigns
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| The Dr James Smith, Aegis CEO; Jacqueline Parlevliet, Deputy Representative UNHCR in the UK; and Rt. Hon David Miliband, Secretary of State for Foreign Affarirs. | |
Aegis undertakes policy-based research on the prevention of genocide and crimes against humanity and campaigns for the protection of groups under threat. In 2001, Aegis convened the first ever international conference on genocide prevention, in partnership with the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. As a special advisor to the Swedish Prime Minister's Office on genocide issues, Aegis co-founder, Dr Stephen Smith, was closely involved in the organisation of the Stockholm International Forum Conference series on Genocide Prevention (2001-4). Today, Aegis continues to works closely with a wide range of partners, including governmental and non-governmental, educational and academic institutions around the world.
Aegis led the campaign for civilian protection in Darfur and was among the first organisations in 2004 to call for a referral of Darfur to the International Criminal Court. Our current campaigns are: Justice for Darfur; Strengthening UK law on international crimes; and Support for Darfuri Asylum Seekers in the UK. Current research and policy programmes include: enforcement of international law, Sudan and the future of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), Wanted for War Crimes and the Lubanga Chronicles Project.
In 2005, Aegis set up the All Party Parliamentary Group on Genocide Prevention in the United Kingdom Parliament. Two years later it helped set up a counterpart in the Canadian Parliament. This is a first step in developing an international parliamentary network on genocide prevention through which to build political support for ideas that prevent or mitigate genocidal violence.
Aegis Rwanda
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| The opening of the Kigali Memorial Centre in 2004 | |
At a meeting hosted by the Cape Town Holocaust Centre in 2001, representatives of Aegis and the Rwandan delegation identified a common goal: the pursuit of memory through justice, dignified memorials and universal education. Aegis was invited by the Rwandan Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture to assist in completing this demanding task.
The Aegis Kigali office opened in 2002 with the aim of securing funding from the international community to build education centres across the country. It commissioned forensic archeology assessments of human remains, drew up plans for the national centre in Kigali, and began the painstaking work of collecting primary data from the field.
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| Robert Bayigamba, the Minister for Youth, Sports and Culture, and Theoneste Mutsindashyaka, Mayor of Kigali, visit the Beth Shalom Holocaust Centre in 2003 | |
In February 2003, Robert Bayigamba, the Minister for Youth, Sports and Culture, and Theoneste Mutsindashyaka, Mayor of Kigali, visited the Aegis run Beth Shalom Holocaust Centre in Nottinghamshire. They requested that Aegis take over responsibility for the creation of the Kigali Memorial Centre, the Murambi Memorial Centre and preservation work at an additional five major sites around the country. The Kigali Memorial Centre was opened in 2004 and has become a site of pilgrimage for local schools and international visitors alike, from former presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush, to Prime Minister Tony Blair, to Ban-Ki Moon.
The work of genocide memoralisation is not perceived as a traditional development project. It does, however, address with one of the most fundamental fault lines within society: that of ethnic division. This division has been at the centre of virtually every break down in development programmes in the past. Dealing with the root causes is, therefore, critical to long-term stability.
A documentation centre has recently been opened on the Kigali Memorial Centre site to display testimony and facilitate research. The vast amount of unpublished and uncollected material still needs programming into the project so that history is not lost to us.
In June 2008, Aegis launched a genocide education programme in Rwanda. Called “Building Peace, Reconciliation and Unity on the Lessons of Memory”, it is an inclusive programme that acknowledges that youth all have different stories in their past and that they are not responsible for that past, but that they do have a common future and are responsible for their actions in that future.
Many survivors remain destitute as a result of the genocide. Aegis is helping some of the most vulnerable survivors through its social programme. We are currently building a hostel in Rwanda as a transitional home for young destitute genocide survivors to support them back to independence.
Aegis Students
Aegis students is an international grass roots support base that campaigns for the protection of groups at risk of genocidal violence. The Aegis Students movement already has 19 societies in UK universities and 6 in Rwanda.
The Holocaust Centre
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| Memorial stones laid by visitors to the Holocaust Centre | |
Aegis orginally grew out of The Holocaust Centre which was founded by brothers James and Stephen Smith in 1995. It is the UK’s first dedicated memorial to the Holocaust. The Smiths had no personal connection with the Holocaust, but simply felt that whatever your ethnicity or religion, the fact that people could commit mass murder should challenge you – ideally in formative years, within the education system.
Within a few years of opening, the Holocaust Centre was internationally recognised as a place of remembrance and education, with hundreds of school children daily visiting the permanent exhibition and memorial gardens, meeting survivors of the Holocaust and hearing their personal stories. Today it also provides training about racism for professionals, including police and prison officers, and aims to inspire reflection on the common responsibility to prevent mass atrocities.
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In September 2008, The Journey, opened at the Holocaust Centre. This provides an education programme for primary / elementary school children. This year also saw the launch of History Speaks, a web based programme facilitating video conferencing between school pupils and holocaust survivors.
