PONG NAM RON, Thailand (Reuters) -Tun Min Lat climbs a bamboo ladder in the longan orchards of eastern Thailand, moving from tree to tree as he plucks the juicy tropical fruit in the sweltering heat of a November morning.

For the first time in the nearly two decades he has lived in Thailand, the 42-year-old Myanmar refugee is able to work legally.

“Now I feel like I can see a future,” he told Reuters.

In late August, Thailand’s government announced that thousands of Myanmar refugees who live along the Thai-Myanmar border would be given employment rights for the first time. The decision, which the United Nations described as a “landmark step”, allows more than 80,000 Myanmar refugees to apply for work permits.

The announcement came after border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia in J

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