Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has asked international labor leaders to support justice and improved human rights in her homeland.

The 65-year-old Nobel laureate spoke Monday by video message to the International Labor Organization meeting in Geneva. She said Burma must not be allowed to fail in its quest to improve the welfare of its people.

She told delegates that Burma once was considered the nation most likely to succeed in Southeast Asia, before falling behind most countries in the region under more than two decades of military rule.

Aung San Suu Kyi said Burmese democracy activists look to the ILO to usher in an era of broad-based social justice that will allow workers to form trade unions “with the highest international standards.”

She also said efforts in Burma to eliminate forced labor and the conscription of child soldiers show the hunger of the Burmese people for social justice.