President Mary McAleese has urged senior legal representatives from the international community to mark the coming century with major steps towards recognising the rights of children.
She was among the opening speakers at the 17th World Congress of the International Association of Youth and Family Judges and Magistrates in Belfast.
The congress, held every four years, is being hosted in Ireland for the first time and has attracted some 500 delegates from nearly 50 countries across the five continents.
In addition to Mrs McAleese, keynote speakers include retired US Supreme Court judge Sandra Day O'Connor and United Nations deputy high commissioner for human rights Mehr Khan Williams.
The central theme of the congress at the Waterfront Hall in the city is "The Right Justice". Dr Willie McCarney, a Belfast lay magistrate and president of the International Association of Youth and Family Judges and Magistrates, summed up the congress's purpose: "The lives of many of the children we deal with have been shattered by neglect, domestic violence, physical and sexual abuse, child labour, trafficking - the list is almost endless. Our role is to attempt to put the pieces of these shattered lives together again."
The delegates will discuss and promote the rights and welfare of children across the world as enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child and in other international instruments.
A major theme of the conference is expected to be a call to champion the rights of children to speak, be heard and to be listened to. The congress will work to agree a set of proposals to be known as the Belfast Recommendations, which will be presented to the UN and the Council of Europe before year's end.
Citing Belfast's emergence from decades of conflict, Mrs McAleese said those wishing to build a future from children whose childhood has been fractured should take note. "You came to the right place to talk about putting the pieces together again for that is the story of contemporary Belfast," she said.
Addressing directly the legal experts from across the globe, Mrs McAleese added: "Yours will be the voice speaking for children who do not yet know the extent of their voicelessness or their vulnerability and who, too late, grow in awareness of their lost years and lost lives."
The event is organised by a local Organising Committee chaired by Mr Justice Gillen, the senior family judge for Northern Ireland.
Organisations sending delegates include the Northern Ireland Court Service, the Northern Ireland Office, The PSNI, the Probation Service of Northern Ireland, the Social Services Inspectorate, the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister and the recently created Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland.
The congress runs until Friday.