United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-Moon yesterday hailed a new agreement between the Burmese government and the International Labour Organization on a mechanism for processing forced labour claims.

The ILO announced on Monday it had reached an agreement with Burma for the establishment of a complaints mechanism for victims of forced labour.

“The establishment of such a mechanism has been a longstanding request of the International Labour Conference and the ILO Governing Body,” Ban said in a statement yesterday.

“. . . the importance of such a step was underlined by Under-Secretary-General Ibrahim Gambari during his recent visit to [Burma] in the context of the Secretary-General’s good offices,” the secretary general said.

The ILO agreement with Burma-the result of more than three years of intermittent negotiations-allows for citizens to freely submit complaints to the ILO office in Rangoon without fear of retaliatory legal action.

The ILO office will then be allowed to independently assess forced labour cases, “in order that such cases can be investigated by the [Burmese] authorities”, the labour rights group said on Monday.

The ILO’s liaison officer in Rangoon, Richard Horsey, told DVB yesterday the agreement marked a significant step forward in Burma’s relationship with the group.

“Well this is obviously a very significant and a very positive step that we have been able to agree on a mechanism to deal with complaints. This is something we have been pushing for for some time and we do think it is very important,” Richard Horsey said.

Burma has for years been criticised by international groups for failing to adequately tackle forced labour. Prior to news of the agreement, the ILO’s Governing Body had been preparing to lodge a question on Burma with the International Court of Justice by March with respect to Burma’s failure to address the issue.