BANGKOK: Thailand will give legal employment rights to thousands of Myanmar refugees now living in camps along the border between the two countries, the government said on Wednesday, a move that won the praise of the United Nations’ refugee agency.
The policy change will grant the right to legal work in Thailand to around 80,000 refugees, many of whom have been living in the camps for more than 40 years, the government said.
Among the eligible Myanmar refugees living in nine temporary shelters along the Thai-Myanmar border since 1984, 42,601 are of working age, it said.
The decision could also help solve a potential migrant labor shortage in Thailand following an armed border conflict with Cambodia, which led to an exodus of Cambodian workers.
Around 520,000 Cambodians — about 12 percent of the total workforce — were employed in Thailand before the fighting erupted in July, according to official Labor Ministry data.
