UN to halve Rohingya food aid in Bangladesh amid funding crunch

Due to a lack of funds, Bangladesh will have to temporarily reduce the supply of food for about one million Rohingya refugees starting next month.

In a letter released on Wednesday, the World Food Programme (WFP) claimed that “significant funding shortfalls” are causing a decrease in the number of monthly food vouchers from $12.50 to $6 per person.

The letter stated that “unfortunately, we have not yet received sufficient funding, and cost-saving measures alone are insufficient.”

The aid was reduced, according to Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, Bangladesh’s top official in charge of the Rohingya refugee camps.

The Bangladesh refugee relief and repatriation commissioner wrote, “I received the letter confirming a $6.50 cut that will start effective on April 1.”

He called the Reuters news agency to say that what they are already receiving is insufficient and that the effects of this new cut are difficult to imagine.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is scheduled to meet with Rohingya refugees to mark the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, but the WFP made the announcement days before.

More than one million Rohingya, members of a persecuted Muslim minority who fled violent purges in neighboring Myanmar, were sheltered by Bangladesh in 2016 and 2017. They have limited access to employment opportunities and education in overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar’s southern district.

The Rohingya refugees, who rely on aid and suffer from widespread malnutrition, have already experienced severe hardship as a result of successive aid cuts.

Bangladesh has struggled to provide for the refugees because there are slim chances of relocating to another country or finding work.

The Rohingya refugees, who are already living in extremely dire conditions, are “too bad for them,” according to Nay San Lwin, co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition.

He told Al Jazeera, “WFP should focus on lowering administrative costs and other expenses while increasing quotas for refugees to receive lifesaving support.”

Instead of putting money into other things, “international donors should prioritize life-saving efforts.”

Health and disease risk

The WFP reported that the funding gap is due to a significant lack of donations, rather than a United States administration decision to reduce its global aid, adding that US support for food aid for the Rohingya has continued.

However, the Trump administration’s decision to stop the majority of its foreign aid will have an impact on the camps’ medical facilities.

Rahman claimed that five US-funded hospitals have had to reduce services and that the hospital budget has been “squeeze on operations” in the Rohingya camps and in waste management. He claimed that reducing food would lead to a “grievous problem.”

According to Rahman, “These people are stateless, miserable, and shouldn’t be suffering as a result of the funding crisis.”

According to Rahman last month, the US contributed about $300 million to the Rohingya humanitarian response in 2024.

Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, expressed his concern that a drop in donor funding would endanger the lives of tens of thousands of refugees.

The enormous work done by the Bangladesh government will suffer if donor support drops significantly, which could happen, putting thousands of people at risk of hunger, disease, and insecurity, according to Grandi in a post on X.

According to the UN, a previous round of ration cuts to Rohingya in 2023, which reduced the amount of food rations to $8 per month, resulted in a sharp rise in hunger and malnutrition.

The camp population “struggled to get an adequate diet” for 90 percent of the population in less than a month, according to them, and more than 15 percent of the children developed malnutrition, the highest rate ever observed. Later, the cut was reversed.

The European Commission announced on Monday that 76 million euros ($79.4 million) of humanitarian aid will be distributed to Rohingya refugees and other Myanmar residents.

According to EU Crisis Commissioner Hadja Lahbib, “the EU firmly supports Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, just as we have for the past seven years.”

Source: Aljazeera