JAKARTA - UNHCR published a June 10 appeal seeking support for Myanmar refugees and asylum-seekers in nine temporary shelters along the Thai-Myanmar border. 

The appeal, titled Sustainable Solutions Thailand June 2026 Appeal, focuses on moving refugees from long-term camp dependence toward work, services and more durable support. ReliefWeb lists the document as covering June 2026 to December 2030. 

The agency said Thailand has hosted people fleeing conflict and persecution in Myanmar for more than four decades, but long-running camp systems now face declining humanitarian funding. 

Thailand hosts more than 80,000 refugees from Myanmar in the nine shelters, which are managed by the Royal Thai Government along the border. UNHCR says most camp-based refugees are Karen, Karenni and Burmese, and many have lived in Thailand since the mid-1980s. 

The appeal builds on Thailand’s 2025 decision to allow long-staying Myanmar refugees to work legally. UNHCR welcomed that resolution on August 26, 2025, saying it covered about 81,000 forcibly displaced people in the shelters. Around 47 percent of them were born there. 

“For too long, protracted exile felt like an unending wait,” said Tammi Sharpe, UNHCR’s Representative in Thailand. “Today marks a turning point. With this policy shift, Thailand transforms hosting refugees into an engine of growth – for refugees, for host communities and for the nation as a whole.” 

The shift is already changing daily life for some refugees. Reuters reported on June 9 that more than 5,500 Myanmar refugees living in camps along the border had found jobs since Thailand eased employment restrictions in 2025. 

UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Operations Raouf Mazou told Reuters that the Thai approach could offer lessons for other Asian countries facing long-term displacement. 

The European Union has also backed the transition. On April 20, the EU launched a EUR 15 million programme for Myanmar displaced persons in the nine shelters and migrants outside shelters in Tak province. The programme supports healthcare, child protection, livelihoods and employment readiness.