International Monitor Institute records, 1986-2011

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Summary

Creator:
International Monitor Institute
Abstract:
The non-profit agency International Monitor Institute (IMI) operated between 1993 and 2003, primarily to assist international war-crimes tribunals by collecting, indexing and organizing visual evidence of violations of international human rights law. The International Monitor Institute Records span the dates 1986-2006, and primarily comprise audiovisual materials related to IMI's documentation of contemporary conflicts and human rights violations around the world. Countries represented include: Burma (Myanmar), Bosnia and Hercegovina, Cambodia, Kuwait, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Thailand. Includes master and use copies of approximately 6000 videocassettes and 100 audio tapes and audiocassettes. The video and audio material is indexed by an extensive database developed by IMI which includes keywords, air dates, segment producer, segment title, and in some cases, transcripts and stills from the video. There are also many photographs and slides taken in the same regions, depicting destruction in areas of conflict, forced labor, refugees and refugee camps, and protests. The majority of the photos were taken on the Burma/Thai border, in Bosnia and Hercegovina, and refugee camps in Rwanda. Finally, there are extensive organizational records, including an extensive database of the audiovisual components. Acquired as part of the Human Rights Archive.
Extent:
530 Linear Feet
8.3 Gigabytes
Language:
Material in English
Collection ID:
RL.00604

Background

Scope and content:

Note: The video and audio tape holdings of the Interntional Monitor Institute records are described in separate finding aids. A large portion of these tapes, particularly that section dealing with the Balkans, is not yet processed. Inventories are currently available for the following sections:

Burma Tapes, circa 1990-2002

Rwanda Videotapes and Audiotapes, 1992-1999

The International Monitor Institute Records span the dates 1986-2006, and primarily consist of audiovisual materials related to IMI's documentation of contemporary conflicts and human rights violations around the world. Countries represented include: Burma (Myanmar), Bosnia and Hercegovina, Cambodia, Kuwait, Iraq, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Thailand. Includes master and use copies of approximately 6000 videocassettes and 100 audio tapes and audiocassettes. The video and audio material is indexed by an extensive database developed by IMI which includes keywords, air dates, segment producer, segment title, and in some cases, transcripts and stills from the video. There are also six boxes of photographs and slides taken in the same regions, depicting destruction in areas of conflict, forced labor, refugees and refugee camps, and protests. The majority of the photographs, almost all color snapshots, were taken on the Burma/Thai border, in Bosnia and Hercegovina, and refugee camps in Rwanda. One set of seven folders are images taken by staff of the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children (now known as the Women's Refugee Commission). There are other images that come from United Nations organizations, including the International Refugee Commission. Finally, organizational records from the offices of IMI comprise a significant amount of the materail in this collection, including an extensive database of the audiovisual components and transcripts from war crimes tribunals.

Addition (2007-0070) (approx. 4000 items, 120 linear ft.; dated 1990-2002) contains master and use copies of videocassettes related to human rights violations around the world.

Acquired as part of the Human Rights Archive.

Biographical / historical:

Organizational History. The International Monitor Institute was founded in 1993 and operated until 2003. Its primary mission was to assist international war-crimes tribunals by collecting, indexing and organizing visual evidence of violations of international human rights law. Videos and audiotapes were acquired through donation as well as on collecting trips by IMI associates in the former Yugoslavia, Kuwait, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Iraq, Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Cambodia, and other countries. IMI's activities also included developing regional archives of videos on conflict and human rights abuses, producing film and multimedia projects to assist humanitarian organizations, organizing public outreach events, conducting video research for governments, film makers, authors, and students, and providing educational outreach. Patrons and partners of IMI and its collections included the International Criminal Court and its staff, Human Rights Watch, Physicians for Human Rights, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the governments of Bosnia-Hercegovina and Croatia, and former First Lady Hillary Clinton.

The International Monitor Institute (IMI) was founded in 1993 by actress and film producer Pippa Scott. Scott, daughter of screenwriter Allan Scott who wrote some of the Astaire-Rogers films, was educated in California and in England, at Radcliffe College and the Southern California Institute of Architecture. Ms. Scott acted in such films as "The Searchers" and "Auntie Mame," and was a founding partner of the Emmy-award winning television company Lorimar Productions (producer of such TV hits as "The Waltons" and "Dallas"). Scott established Linden Productions in 1987 to develop documentaries focusing on current issues. Linden's latest production is "King Leopold's Ghost," a documentary about the exploitation of the Congo by King Leopold II of Belgium. Scott was a member of the Women's Refugee Commission, the Pacific Council on Foreign Relations, and the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.

Acquisition information:
The International Monitor Institute Records were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift in 2006, 2007, and 2011.
Processing information:

Processed by Mathew Archer, Ted Holt, Maria Perales, Clare Callahan and Patrick Stawski

Encoded by Mathew Archer, Ted Holt, Paula Jeannet, Maria Perales, Clare Callahan and Patrick Stawski

Accessions 2006-0111, 2007-0070, and 2011-0051 were merged into one collection, described in this finding aid.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Subjects

Click on terms below to find related finding aids on this site. For other related materials in the Duke University Libraries, search for these terms in the Catalog.

Subjects:
Documentary films -- Political aspects
Environmental degradation
Forced Labor
Human rights monitoring
Justice, Administration of
Peace-building -- Bosnia and Hercegovina
Radio -- Crimes against peace
Refugee camps
Refugees
Refugees -- Burma
Refugees -- Rwanda
Refugees -- Thailand
War crimes
Policía Nacional Civil (El Salvador)
Format:
Audiocassettes
Audiotapes
Databases
Trial transcripts
Photographic prints
Slides (photographs)
Videocassettes
Names:
ICTY
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
Human Rights Archive (Duke University)
International Monitor Institute
International Refugee Organization
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of theFormer Yugoslavia since 1991
Women's Refugee Commission
United Nations -- Peacekeeping forces
Scott, Pippa, 1935-
Places:
Africa -- Social conditions
Cambodia -- Social conditions
Bosnia and Hercegovina -- Social conditions
Burma -- Social conditions
El Salvador -- Social conditions
Iraq -- Social conditions
Kuwait -- History -- 20th century
Rwanda -- Social conditions
Sierra Leone -- Social conditions
Thailand -- Social conditions

Contents

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Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Access note. Some materials in this collection are fragile audiovisual formats that may need to be reformatted before use. Contact Research Services for access.

Access note. Some materials in this collection are electronic records that require special equipment. Contact Research Services with questions.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], International Monitor Institute Records, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University

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