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Two complementary research tracks analyzing human rights through automated document analysis

Current Projects

  • 🌈 LittleRainbowRights

    Status: Active | Scope: Global (194 countries)

    Child and LGBTQ+ digital rights research tracking 10 indicators across all countries. Features production-ready REST API with 14 endpoints, comprehensive scorecard, and 2,543 validated sources.

    Key Features:

    • 10 digital rights indicators
    • 194 countries tracked
    • 2,543 validated source URLs
    • 14 REST API endpoints
    • Open-source Python pipeline

    Published: DOI

    Explore Project View Scorecard

  • SGBV-UPR

    Status: Published (2022) | Scope: SADC → Expanding globally

    Sexual and gender-based violence analysis using Universal Periodic Review recommendations. Foundational research demonstrating automated UPR analysis methodology at regional scale.

    Key Features:

    • UPR recommendations analysis
    • SGBV thematic focus
    • Regional to global expansion
    • Peer-reviewed methodology
    • Published research (2022)

    Published: Vollmer & Vollmer (2022), Stellenbosch Law Review

    View Project

Research Evolution

SGBV-UPR (2019-2022) validated the core methodology for automated human rights document analysis at regional scale, focusing on SADC member states and SGBV themes. This foundational work was published in peer-reviewed literature.

LittleRainbowRights (2025-present) expands this approach to global digital rights analysis, tracking 10 indicators across 194 countries with comprehensive testing, production-ready API, and reproducible workflows.

Both projects share the same commitment to:

  • Open data - CC BY 4.0 licensing
  • Transparent methodology - Fully documented pipelines
  • Authoritative sources - Validated URLs from UN agencies, NGOs, governments
  • Research quality - Peer review, testing, version control

Technical Stack

Both projects use the GRIMdata pipeline infrastructure:

  • Python 3.12 - Core language
  • BeautifulSoup4 & Selenium - Web scraping
  • pandas - Data analysis
  • Flask - REST API (LittleRainbowRights)
  • pytest - Testing framework (274 tests total)
  • MkDocs Material - Documentation

Publications

LittleRainbowRights

  • Vollmer, DT and Vollmer, SC. (2025). Queer AI for the digital child: Examining the response to advanced digital technologies on the human rights of LGBTQ+ children in Africa. Presented at the Second International Conference on Children's Rights, Stellenbosch, South Africa, September 9-11, 2025. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18318098

SGBV-UPR

  • Vollmer, SC and Vollmer, DT. (2022). Global perspectives of Africa: Harnessing the universal periodic review to process sexual and gender-based violence in SADC member states. Stellenbosch Law Review, 33(1), 8–41. DOI: 10.47348/SLR/2022/i1a1

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Making human rights data accessible, transparent, and actionable.