Canadian Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire was the recipient of the inaugural Aegis Award, for his efforts as UN Force Commander in Rwanda to prevent or curtail the Rwandan genocide of 1994, despite being ordered by his superiors on three occasions to withdraw. The Award was presented to the General by Rt. Hon. Peter Hain MP, then Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (UK), at Westminster Central Hall in London - symbolic as the venue for the very first General Assembly of the United Nations in 1946.