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LittleRainbowRights

Child and LGBTQ+ Digital Rights Research

Analyzing digital protections for vulnerable populations through human rights document analysis

About This Project

LittleRainbowRights is a focused research initiative within the broader GRIMdata framework, specifically examining:

  • Child digital rights - Online safety, age verification, data protection for minors
  • LGBTQ+ digital rights - Legal protections, online discrimination, privacy concerns
  • Intersectional analysis - How policies affect vulnerable youth who are also LGBTQ+

This project uses the DigitalChild pipeline to scrape, process, and analyze human rights documents from international organizations, tracking how well countries protect children and LGBTQ+ individuals in digital spaces.

Key Findings

  • 194 Countries Tracked

    Comprehensive global coverage of digital rights indicators

  • 10 Indicators

    AI Policy, Data Protection, LGBTQ+ Legal Status, Child Protection, and more

  • Critical Gaps Identified

    Many countries lack specific child online protection frameworks

  • Best Practices

    Leading countries demonstrate comprehensive approaches

Scorecard Overview

The LittleRainbowRights scorecard tracks these key indicators:

Child-Specific Indicators

  1. Child Online Protection - Legislation and policies safeguarding children in digital environments
  2. Age Verification Requirements - Mandatory age checks for accessing online services

LGBTQ+-Specific Indicators

  1. LGBTQ+ Legal Status - Recognition and protections for LGBTQ+ individuals
  2. Promotion/Propaganda Laws - Restrictions on LGBTQ+ content and discussion

Universal Digital Rights

  1. AI Policy Status - National strategies addressing AI and automation
  2. Data Protection Law - Comprehensive data protection legislation
  3. SIM Card Biometric Registration - Privacy concerns with biometric requirements
  4. Encryption Backdoors - Government surveillance capabilities
  5. DPA Independence - Data Protection Authority autonomy
  6. Content Moderation - Regulations on harmful content removal

View Full Scorecard

Regional Analysis

Africa

  • Strengths: Growing AI policy adoption, strong regional frameworks (AU)
  • Challenges: Limited LGBTQ+ protections, gaps in child online safety
  • Leaders: South Africa (comprehensive data protection and some LGBTQ+ rights)

Americas

  • Strengths: Some countries with comprehensive frameworks
  • Challenges: Regional variation, enforcement gaps
  • Leaders: Canada, Uruguay (strong data protection and LGBTQ+ rights)

Asia-Pacific

  • Strengths: Technology leadership in some countries
  • Challenges: Wide variation in human rights protections
  • Leaders: Australia, New Zealand (comprehensive frameworks)

Europe

  • Strengths: GDPR, strong data protection, LGBTQ+ rights in many countries
  • Challenges: Implementation consistency
  • Leaders: Nordic countries, Netherlands, Spain

Middle East

  • Strengths: Emerging AI policies
  • Challenges: LGBTQ+ criminalization, limited digital rights frameworks
  • Note: Significant human rights concerns in many countries

Data Sources

All data sourced from authoritative international organizations:

  • UNESCO - AI policy observatory
  • UNCTAD - Data protection legislation tracking
  • ILGA World - LGBTQ+ legal status (State-Sponsored Homophobia report)
  • UNICEF - Child protection measures
  • ITU - Telecom and internet regulations
  • Privacy International - Surveillance and privacy tracking
  • Human Rights Watch - Human rights monitoring

Total: 2,543 validated source URLs ensuring transparency and verification.

Key Publications

Conference Presentations

Vollmer, D.T., & Vollmer, S.C. (2025, September 9-11). Queer AI for the digital child: Examining the response to advanced digital technologies on the human rights of LGBTQ+ children in Africa. Paper presented at the Second International Conference on Children's Rights, Stellenbosch, South Africa.

  • ORCID: 0000-0002-3359-2810 (S.C. Vollmer)
  • Presentation materials available in presentations/ directory
  • Research demonstrated thorough manual legal analysis across African countries
  • Identified critical gaps in digital protection frameworks for LGBTQ+ youth

Additional Publications

Additional publications using LittleRainbowRights data will be listed here as they become available.

How to Use This Data

For Researchers

# Load scorecard data
import pandas as pd

df = pd.read_excel('data/scorecard/scorecard_main_presentation.xlsx', sheet_name='UN_194')

# Filter for child protection analysis
child_protection = df[['Country', 'Region', 'Child_Online_Protection', 'Age_Verification']]

# Analyze LGBTQ+ protections
lgbtq_analysis = df[['Country', 'LGBTQ_Legal_Status', 'Promotion_Propaganda']]

# Regional aggregations
regional_summary = df.groupby('Region').agg({
    'AI_Policy_Status': lambda x: (x != 'No Policy').sum(),
    'Data_Protection_Law': lambda x: (x == 'Comprehensive Law').sum(),
    'Child_Online_Protection': lambda x: (x == 'Comprehensive Framework').sum()
})

Installation Guide | API Documentation

For Advocates

Use the data to:

  • Build evidence-based campaigns - Cite specific country policies and gaps
  • Track policy changes - Monitor improvements or regressions over time
  • Compare approaches - Identify best practices from leading countries
  • Support litigation - Evidence for human rights cases

For Policy Makers

Insights for:

  • Benchmarking - Compare your country's policies against regional peers
  • Policy design - Learn from comprehensive frameworks in other countries
  • Gap analysis - Identify missing protections in your jurisdiction
  • International cooperation - Coordinate with countries facing similar challenges

Interactive Tools

  • Scorecard Visualization

    Interactive charts showing indicators across countries

    Explore Data

  • Data Explorer

    Filter and search through all indicators

    Search Data

  • Export Data

    Download CSV files for your own analysis

    Get Data

  • Use the Pipeline

    Run the analysis yourself on your own machine

    Quick Start

Contributing

Found an error in the scorecard data? Have updated information?

  1. Check the source - Verify the current value and source URL
  2. Report - Open GitHub Issue with details
  3. Provide evidence - Include authoritative source URL
  4. Track update - Follow the issue for confirmation

Contributing Guidelines

Citing This Work

When using LittleRainbowRights data:

@misc{littlerainbowrights2025,
  title = {LittleRainbowRights: Child and LGBTQ+ Digital Rights Scorecard},
  author = {Vollmer, D.T. and Vollmer, S.C.},
  year = {2025},
  howpublished = {\url{https://grimdata.org/projects/littlerainbowrights/}},
  note = {Licensed under CC BY 4.0. ORCID: 0000-0002-3359-2810}
}

Or:

Vollmer, D.T., & Vollmer, S.C. (2025). LittleRainbowRights: Child and LGBTQ+ Digital Rights Scorecard. Available at: https://grimdata.org/projects/littlerainbowrights/. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. ORCID: 0000-0002-3359-2810

Full Citation Guide

Data Governance

This project follows strict ethical guidelines:

  • Publicly available sources only - No confidential or leaked documents
  • Transparent methodology - All processing steps documented
  • Source attribution - Every data point linked to authoritative source
  • Regular validation - Automated checking of 2,543 source URLs
  • Community review - Open to corrections and updates

Read Full Data Governance Policy

Support This Work

  • ⭐ Star the repository
  • 📢 Share with researchers and advocates
  • 🐛 Report data quality issues
  • 💻 Contribute code or documentation
  • 📝 Cite in your publications

Contact

LittleRainbowRights is part of the GRIMdata (Global Rights Index Monitoring) initiative.

Mission: Protect vulnerable populations in the digital age through evidence-based research and advocacy.