February 1st 2018
Rwandans stand with the world to commemorate the Holocaust at the Kigali Genocide Memorial
At the Kigali Genocide Memorial, Government officials, members of the diplomatic corps accredited to Rwanda, students representing others and members from different survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi associations joined Israelis and Germans to mark the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.
This remembrance ceremony was organised by the Embassy of Israel to Rwanda, UN Rwanda and the German Embassy to Rwanda. Kigali Genocide Memorial was the host.
As people of Rwanda who have experienced the horrors of genocide themselves, this day was a time to stand with the world to remember and honour the more than six million Jews killed in the Holocaust and send a strong message of the importance of fighting genocide ideology.
April 7th 2018
Kigali Genocide Memorial hosts Kwibuka24 Commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi
The Kigali Genocide Memorial today hosted the 24th Commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. In an event attended by more than 300 guests including survivors and international dignitaries, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame and First Lady Jeannette Kagame laid a wreath at the burial place where more than 250,000 victims of the Genocide are laid to rest. The President then lit the Flame of Remembrance, Urumuri Rutazima, marking the beginning of 100 days of mourning.
April 13th 2018
Aegis Trust Receives the Raphael Lemkin International Award at Kigali Genocide Memorial
On 13th April 2018, Aegis Trust was honoured to receive the second edition of the Raphael Lemkin International Award in recognition of its outstanding contribution to fighting genocide and other mass atrocities, in particular by educating the young generation in Rwanda through its Education for Sustainable Peace in Rwanda programme, and commemorating and honouring the victims of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
The Raphael Lemkin International Award was established on September 4th, 2013 by Minister Radosław Sikorski. Its main aim is to improve knowledge about the diverse origins and consequences of the crime of genocide, as well as to enhance mechanisms to prevent mass atrocities through creating, consolidating and promoting international legal instruments in this field. The prize also highlights the central position that international law, in particular international humanitarian law and human rights, takes in Polish foreign policy, and commemorates the eminent lawyer.
June 22nd 2018
Kigali Genocide Memorial screened ‘The Faces We Lost’
The Kigali Genocide Memorial hosted the screening of ‘The Faces We Lost’ as part of its Kwibuka film and conversation series. This film by Dr Piotr Cieplak shares how Rwandans use personal and family album photographs to remember and commemorate their loved ones killed in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
This film follows nine Rwandans (survivors, relatives of victims and professional memory-makers), who guide us through their stories and share their experiences, remembrance and images.
July 16th 2018
Young Leaders from South Sudan inspired to become peacebuilders at the Kigali Genocide Memorial
For the last five years, the Kigali Genocide Memorial has been receiving various South Sudanese delegations coming to learn more on the history of the genocide against the Tutsi and looking for inspiration on how to build peace in South Sudan, drawing lessons from the success of Aegis peace education model. (Aegis Trust manages the Kigali Genocide Memorial on behalf of the National Commission for the Fight against the Genocide).
During an intensive week in June, a group of around fifty youth leaders had the opportunity to tour the Kigali Genocide Memorial and other memorial sites around the country, meet survivors and perpetrators who have reconciled after genocide and now living in one village.
Since 2013, South Sudan, located in East Africa, has been experiencing violence of ethnic origin. This has already caused millions of people to flee to border countries such as Uganda.
July 18th 2018
Kigali Genocide Memorial hosted the fourth edition of Ubumuntu Arts Festival
The Kigali Genocide Memorial (KGM) hosted the fourth edition of the Ubumuntu Arts Festival from Friday the 13 to Sunday 15 July 2018. The festival included a series of free workshops and performances that promote the importance and messages of humanity through art, drama, music and dance.
This year’s edition’s theme was “Art and the Path to Resilience”. Hope Azeda, Festival Curator, stated in a press release ahead of the festival that this year’s festival would focus on life’s challenges and stories of finding the strength to carry on.
Fifteen countries were represented at the festival with performers and performance troupes from Belgium, Burundi, Canada, Egypt, Kenya, Iraq, Nigeria, Poland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Kingdom, the United States, Zimbabwe and Rwanda.
The festival was first held in 2015 and has since taken place annually after the last week of the 100 days commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi; the event takes place at the outdoor amphitheatre of the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre.
October 9th 2018
Kigali Genocide Memorial celebrates access to IWitness, a new visual history archives on Genocides
Kigali Genocide Memorial celebrated an access to the Visual History Archive, a home to more than 55,000 testimonies of survivors and witnesses of the Genocide against the Tutsi and other genocides or mass atrocities around the world.
The Visual History Archives was developed by the USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute of Visual History and Education based in California (United States of America) and the Aegis Trust as a long lasting partner in providing first hand testimonies from the witnesses of Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
On this same day, a Rwanda landing page on IWitness was launched. This is an online platform developed by USC Shoah Foundation with testimony-based educational resources and contextualized activities to encourage critical thinking among teachers and students.