The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has expressed its admiration for the government's moral support for displaced persons who have escaped the political turmoil in Myanmar.
The international agency urged the government to permit it to visit the refugee shelters to ensure the people there are enjoying levels of protection that meet its standards.
Giuseppe De Vincentiis, the UNHCR's representative in Thailand, told the media on Tuesday that the agency admired Thailand for opening its borders to help victims of unrest in neighbouring countries, especially evacuees from Myanmar.
It is estimated that around 90,000 Myanmar refugees have been living in temporary camps in Tak, Mae Hong Son, Ratchaburi, and Kanchanaburi provinces for over 30 years.
The Thai government has also helped those displaced by the coup there in February last year. Some of the country's internal skirmishes since then have infringed on Thai territory.
Mr De Vincentiis said the UNHCR is now facing difficulties accessing the camps because the government recently rejected its request to enter.
"Opening the borders to those persons is a practice of humanitarian aid done by the government. But we want to get the government's permit to explore the refugee camp sites. We have made the request several times, but they were all rejected," he said.
He said it remains unknown how many refugees have fled the violence in their homeland and crossed the border into Thailand over the past year. The Ministry of Interior was only able to provide vague figures because people are coming and going all the time, he added.
Mr De Vincentiis said the UNHCR has been in charge of assisting the government in protecting those refugees and making sure they are safe from violence and can enjoy a basic standard of living. It also works to find a resolution to send them back home safely when possible.
The agency has been working closely with the governments of Thailand and Myanmar to provide jobs for the refugees living in the camps, one-third of whom are of working age, he said. But progress has been slow because the Thai government requires certain documents under the labour law that are difficult if not impossible to produce given the circumstances, he said.
"Around 1,000 of 90,000 refugees have jobs in Thailand. Most of them cannot get back to Myanmar to obtain the documents due to the coup," he said.