Association des Veuves du Genocide (AVEGA) or the Association of the Widows of Genocide is a Rwandan association formed to help widows, orphans and others who lost family members in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. AVEGA was founded in October 1995 by 50 women who had survived the killings but lost their husbands. One of the organization's founders has stated that she believes that "too much is expected of the victims" who, in her view, need first to be reconciled with themselves and their losses. Restitution and reparations are essential prerequisites before any consideration of reconciliation with the perpetrators.