On those sunny spring days in April 2024, the lecture hall at Kristianstad University didn’t appear to be the kind of location where a global movement is advanced. Coffee cups were shuffled in by researchers. A few delegates compared notes regarding jet lag from as far away as Oman, the Congo, and New Zealand. Poster boards, the slightly squeaky carpet of a Scandinavian campus, and the serene assurance that Swedish preschools typically evoke in guests were all present. The air outside had that distinct chill of northern Europe that never quite goes away in April. Nevertheless, it was difficult to ignore the fact that the way the world discusses young children was changing as the room filled with 239 participants from 30 different countries.
The World Organization for Early Childhood Education, or OMEP, was founded in 1948, making it older than the majority of the organizations it currently advocates for. For many years, it functioned as a low-key professional organization that conducts conferences and publishes journals without looking for attention. However, it seems that the Kristianstad gathering altered the atmosphere. “Sustainability from the Start,” the theme, wasn’t presented as a catchphrase. It was turned into a working agenda.
That thread was furthered by the 76th World Assembly in Bangkok a few months later. Mathias Urban of Dublin City University discussed climate catastrophe, forced migration, and biodiversity loss as circumstances that already influence a four-year-old’s experiences rather than as abstract concepts. The term “polycrisis,” which still sounds awkward, was used by Sheldon Shaeffer and felt justified. Delegates were urged by Asiya Foster to consider social justice and environmental advocacy in tandem. It’s possible that early childhood circles have always used this type of language, albeit infrequently with such weight.
The way OMEP turned those keynote moments into something more enduring is fascinating. Unsettling statistics were presented in UNESCO’s first Global Report on early childhood care and education: pre-primary enrollment fell from 75% in 2020 to 72% in 2023. In low-income nations, only 57% of teachers have received training. By 2030, six million more educators would be required to achieve universal access. The fact that these figures don’t typically appear on front pages is likely a contributing factor.
Geneva followed. The first meeting of an Intergovernmental Working Group investigating whether the Convention on the Rights of the Child requires a new Optional Protocol—one that would specifically guarantee at least a year of free, public pre-primary education—was held in the Palais des Nations from September 1–3, 2025. There were ninety-two Member States present. About a hundred civil society organizations followed suit. Mercedes Mayol Lassalle of OMEP took the stage and said that early childhood is in a “legal gray zone.” It’s a phrase that persists, in part because it’s true and in part because it clarifies why progress has been so uneven.
Thirty-one states expressed unambiguous support. Eight provided conditional support. Just three people were against it. Governments were reminded by children themselves that education “is not a reward, but a right”—a statement made with the moral clarity that adults seldom possess.
It’s unclear if the second IGWG meeting in 2026 will result in a final draft. Political will tends to wane in between meetings, and treaty work is slow. However, as this develops, it seems that OMEP has accomplished something unique: it has patiently carried a sustainability dialogue from a Swedish university town to the UN. The legal obligation to have a childhood. There might still be a long way to go. However, it appears that the course has finally been decided.
