This is certainly a special issue of Early Childhood Matters, celebrating two decades of the Convention on children's rights, as well as the more recent General Comment that addressed children below the age of eight who are often invisible in documents and debate. A range of real life contexts is covered in this issue, at the same time that general principles that should apply across the world are discussed.

I cannot but wonder though about the extent to which the indicators and guidelines developed for monitoring respect for rights in early chilhood can apply globally, especially since these indicators were developed largely by people based in Europe and North America (see the closing article in this issue). Such a commendable initiative should be strengthened and given contextual relevance by 'bottom up' movements across the globe.