Glossary¶

This glossary defines key terms used throughout the DigitalChild project documentation.

Human Rights Organizations & Bodies¶

ACERWC¶

African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Treaty body monitoring implementation of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
Established by the African Union
Reviews state reports and issues recommendations

ACHPR¶

African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights

Quasi-judicial body under the African Union
Promotes and protects human rights in Africa
Examines state reports and individual complaints

AU (African Union)¶

Pan-African organization of 55 member states

Successor to the Organization of African Unity (OAU)
Focuses on continental integration, peace, security, and development
Issues policies, charters, and protocols on human rights

OHCHR¶

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

United Nations entity for human rights
Coordinates UN human rights activities
Provides technical assistance and monitors human rights situations

UNICEF¶

United Nations Children's Fund

UN agency responsible for humanitarian and developmental aid to children
Advocates for child protection, survival, and development
Publishes reports on child rights globally

UPR (Universal Periodic Review)¶

UN Human Rights Council mechanism reviewing human rights records of all UN member states

Occurs every 4-5 years per country
State-driven process with stakeholder input
Results in recommendations for improvement

Human Rights Terms¶

Child Rights¶

Rights specific to persons under 18 years old, including:

Protection from exploitation, abuse, and violence
Right to education, health care, and family life
Special protections for digital spaces

Data Protection¶

Legal and technical measures safeguarding personal information, including:

Right to privacy
Control over personal data
Consent requirements for data collection and processing

Digital Rights¶

Human rights in the context of digital technology and internet access:

Freedom of expression online
Privacy in digital communications
Access to information
Protection from surveillance

LGBTQ+ Rights¶

Rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning individuals, including:

Protection from discrimination
Legal recognition
Freedom from criminalization
Access to services without prejudice

Treaty Body¶

Committee of independent experts monitoring implementation of international human rights treaties

Reviews state reports
Issues concluding observations and recommendations
May handle individual complaints

Technical Terms¶

API (Application Programming Interface)¶

Set of protocols allowing software applications to communicate

In this project: Future feature for accessing data programmatically
Currently: CLI-based (no API yet)

BeautifulSoup4¶

Python library for parsing HTML and XML documents

Used by scrapers to extract data from web pages
Enables navigation and search of parse trees

CLI (Command-Line Interface)¶

Text-based interface for interacting with software

Primary mode of operation for DigitalChild pipeline
Commands run via terminal/command prompt

CSV (Comma-Separated Values)¶

Plain text format for tabular data

Used for exports (scorecard summaries, tags analysis)
Easily imported into Excel, R, Python, etc.

Fallback Handler¶

Module that tries multiple processors in sequence until one succeeds

Used when file type is uncertain
Ensures maximum document processing success

GitHub Pages¶

Static site hosting service by GitHub

Hosts websites directly from GitHub repositories
Free for public repositories
Used for GRIMdata.org website

MkDocs¶

Static site generator for project documentation

Converts Markdown files to HTML website
Material theme provides modern, responsive design
Used to build DigitalChild documentation site

Pandas¶

Python library for data analysis and manipulation

Used for scorecard data processing
Provides DataFrame structures for tabular data

PDF (Portable Document Format)¶

File format for presenting documents independent of software/hardware

Most common format for human rights documents
Processed using PyPDF2 in this pipeline

PyPDF2¶

Python library for reading and manipulating PDF files

Extracts text from PDFs for analysis
Handles multi-page documents

Pytest¶

Python testing framework

Used to run 124 tests in DigitalChild
Supports fixtures, parameterization, coverage reporting

Regex (Regular Expression)¶

Pattern-matching syntax for text

Used in tagging system to identify keywords
Example: \bAI\b matches "AI" as whole word

Scraping (Web Scraping)¶

Automated extraction of data from websites

Downloads documents from public sources
Uses requests library and Selenium

Selenium¶

Browser automation tool

Used for scraping dynamic websites requiring JavaScript
Requires ChromeDriver for Chrome browser control

Project-Specific Terms¶

Basecamp Branch¶

Main development branch for DigitalChild project

Equivalent to "main" or "master" in other repos
All PRs merge to basecamp

DigitalChild¶

Official name of this data pipeline project

Also known as GRIMdata (research umbrella)
Also known as LittleRainbowRights (child/LGBTQ+ focus)

Document Metadata¶

Structured information about processed documents stored in metadata.json:

Source, country, region, year
Tags history (versioned)
Recommendations history
Scorecard indicators
Processing timestamps

Enrichment¶

Process of adding scorecard indicator data to document metadata

Matches documents to countries
Adds 10 indicators per country
Tracks enrichment timestamp

GRIMdata¶

Global Rights Index Monitoring

Umbrella project name
Website: GRIMdata.org
Includes DigitalChild and future SGBV-UPR integration

Indicator¶

Specific human rights metric tracked in the scorecard system

10 indicators total (AI Policy, Data Protection, LGBTQ+ Status, etc.)
Each includes current status and authoritative source URL
Covers 194 countries

LittleRainbowRights¶

Project name for child and LGBTQ+ digital rights research

Subset of GRIMdata focusing on vulnerable populations
Website: LittleRainbowRights.com
Emphasizes digital protection for children and LGBTQ+ individuals

Pipeline Runner¶

Main entry point script (pipeline_runner.py)

Orchestrates entire workflow
Three modes: scraper, urls, scorecard
Handles logging, argument parsing, module coordination

Processor¶

Module that converts documents to text

PDF processor (PyPDF2)
DOCX processor (python-docx)
HTML processor (BeautifulSoup4)
Outputs to data/processed/

Scorecard¶

Comprehensive tracking system for 10 human rights indicators across 194 countries

Stored in data/scorecard/scorecard_main_presentation.xlsx (canonical file)
2,543 source URLs (as of January 2026)
Separate workflow from main pipeline

Scraper¶

Module that downloads documents from web sources

Each source has dedicated scraper (e.g., au_policy.py)
Returns list of downloaded file paths
Outputs to data/raw/<source>/

Source¶

Origin of human rights documents

Currently supports: AU Policy, OHCHR, UPR, UNICEF, ACERWC, ACHPR, Manual
Each source has dedicated scraper and processing path

Tagger¶

Module that applies regex-based tags to documents

Uses config files (tags_v1.json, tags_v3.json, etc.)
Tracks tags history with versions and timestamps
Tags include: ChildRights, LGBTQ, AI, Privacy, DigitalPolicy

Tags History¶

Versioned record of all tag applications to a document

Stored in metadata.json
Includes tags, version, and timestamp
Allows comparison across different tag rule sets

Validator¶

Security module for input validation

Validates URLs, file paths, configs, schemas
Prevents path traversal and injection attacks
68 tests ensure comprehensive security

Data Analysis Terms¶

Age Verification¶

Technical or legal requirement to confirm user age before granting access

Indicator #10 in scorecard
Increasingly common for social media and adult content
Privacy concerns around data collection

AI Policy Status¶

Whether a country has published policy on artificial intelligence

Indicator #1 in scorecard
Includes strategies, frameworks, regulations
Tracked via UNESCO, UNCTAD, national government sources

Child Online Protection¶

Measures to safeguard children in digital environments

Indicator #4 in scorecard
Includes laws, policies, filtering, education
Critical for DigitalChild research focus

Content Moderation¶

Rules and systems for removing harmful online content

Indicator #9 in scorecard
Includes platform policies, government regulations
Balance between safety and free expression

Data Protection Authority (DPA)¶

Independent agency overseeing data protection compliance

Indicator #8 tracks DPA independence
Key for enforcing privacy rights
Not all countries have established DPAs

Data Protection Law¶

Legislation governing collection, use, and storage of personal data

Indicator #2 in scorecard
Examples: GDPR (Europe), POPIA (South Africa), NDPR (Nigeria)
Foundation for digital privacy rights

Encryption Backdoor¶

Intentional weakness in encryption allowing government access

Indicator #6 in scorecard
Controversial trade-off between security and surveillance
Impacts privacy and data protection

LGBTQ+ Legal Status¶

Legal recognition and protections for LGBTQ+ individuals

Indicator #3 in scorecard
Ranges from criminalization to full equality
Sourced from ILGA World, State-Sponsored Homophobia report

Promotion/Propaganda Laws¶

Legislation restricting discussion or "promotion" of LGBTQ+ topics

Indicator #7 in scorecard
Often targets education, media, public discourse
Human rights concern for freedom of expression

SIM Card Biometric Registration¶

Requirement to provide biometric data (fingerprints, facial recognition) to obtain mobile SIM card

Indicator #5 in scorecard
Privacy and surveillance implications
Disproportionately impacts vulnerable populations

Research Terms¶

CC BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0)¶

License requiring attribution when using licensed material

Applied to DigitalChild data and documentation
Allows sharing, adaptation, even commercial use
Must credit original creators

Citation¶

Formal acknowledgment of sources used in research

Required when using DigitalChild data (CC BY 4.0)
Format provided in CITATION.cff
Critical for academic integrity

FAIR Data Principles¶

Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable

Guidelines for scientific data management
DigitalChild aims to align with FAIR principles
Enhances research value and reproducibility

Metadata Schema¶

Structured format defining how document information is recorded

DigitalChild schema documented in docs/standards/METADATA_SCHEMA.md
Ensures consistency across all documents
Enables systematic analysis

MIT License¶

Permissive software license

Applied to DigitalChild code
Allows free use, modification, distribution
Minimal restrictions

Open Source¶

Software with source code available for inspection, modification, and enhancement

DigitalChild is fully open source
Hosted on GitHub
Encourages collaboration and transparency

Acronyms & Abbreviations¶

API: Application Programming Interface
AU: African Union
CLI: Command-Line Interface
CSV: Comma-Separated Values
DPA: Data Protection Authority
GDPR: General Data Protection Regulation (EU)
HTML: HyperText Markup Language
HTTP/HTTPS: HyperText Transfer Protocol (Secure)
JSON: JavaScript Object Notation
LGBTQ+: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, and others
MIT: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (license origin)
NLP: Natural Language Processing
OHCHR: Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
PDF: Portable Document Format
SIM: Subscriber Identity Module
UN: United Nations
UNICEF: United Nations Children's Fund
UPR: Universal Periodic Review
URL: Uniform Resource Locator
XML: eXtensible Markup Language

Beyond the Rainbow¶

Extended future encompassing additional vulnerable populations

Future expansion beyond children and LGBTQ+
Includes elderly, disabled, refugees, indigenous peoples
Phase 5 roadmap goal

SGBV-UPR¶

Sexual and Gender-Based Violence analysis using UPR documents

Separate research project
Already published in academic journal
To be integrated into GRIMdata.org website

Need a term defined? Open an issue or discussion requesting the addition.

Last updated: January 2026