The United Nations warned that she would be forced to make in half of the rations for about a million Rohingyas refugees In Bangladesh from next month due to a lack of funds.
The World Food Program (WFP) said in a letter on Wednesday that “serious financing deficits” force a reduction in good monthly food from $ 12.50 to $ 6 per person.
“Unfortunately, we have still not received sufficient funding, and economic measures alone are not enough,” said the letter.
Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, the senior Bangladesh officials supervising the Rohingyas refugee camps, confirmed the reduction in aid.
“I received the letter confirming a decrease of $ 6.50, which will take effect from April 1,” said the rescue and repatriation of the Bangladesh refugees.
“What they receive now is not enough, so it is difficult to imagine the consequences of this new cup,” he told the Reuters news agency by phone.
The WFD announcement comes a few days before a visit to the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, who should meet Rohingyas refugees to mark Ramadan’s Muslim fasting month.
Bangladesh is home to more than a million Rohingyas, members of a persecuted Muslim minority which fled violent purges in neighboring Myanmar, mainly in 2016 and 2017. They live in overcrowded camps in the southern cox’s bazar district, where they have limited access to employment opportunities and education.
The reductions in successive aid have already caused serious difficulties among the Rohingyas refugees, who depend on aid and suffer from rampant malnutrition.
Bangladesh has struggled to support refugees because the prospects for a wholesale return to Myanmar or reinstallation elsewhere are distant.
Nay San Lwin, co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition, said that the cup of good food was “a death sentence” for Rohingyas refugees, already durable of very disastrous situations.
“PAM should focus on reducing administrative costs and other expenses while increasing quotas for refugees to receive rescue support,” he told Al Jazeera.
“International donors should prioritize rescue efforts instead of spending funds on other purposes.”
Risk of hunger, illness
The financing gap is due to a large deficit of donations rather than a decision by the administration of President Donald Trump in the United States to reduce his foreign aid worldwide, said WFP, adding that US support for food aid for Rohingyas has continued.
But the Trump administration’s decision suddenly stops most American foreign aid will have an impact on health establishments in the camps.
Rahman said Washington cuts mean “operations pressure” in Rohingyas and waste management hospitals and five hospitals funded by the United States had to reduce services. He said that if food should be reduced, it would create a “serious problem”.
“These people are stateless, unhappy and should not suffer due to the funding crisis,” said Rahman.
The United States has contributed more than 50% of Rohingya humanitarian response funds in 2024, around $ 300 million, said Rahman last month.
On Friday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said that he feared that a decrease in donor support will bring their lives to thousands of people in danger.
“If the support of donors decreases considerably – which can occur – the enormous work carried out by the Bangladesh government, aid agencies and refugees will be affected, which will put thousands of people at risk of hunger, illness and insecurity,” published big on X.
A previous series of rations in Rohingya in 2023, which reduced the quantity of food rations to $ 8 per month, led to a sharp increase in hunger and malnutrition, according to the UN.
In a few months, they said that 90% of the camp population “had difficulty accessing an adequate diet” and more than 15% of children suffered from malnutrition, the highest rate recorded. The cut was then reversed.
On Monday, the European Commission announced the allowance of 76 million euros ($ 79.4 million) of humanitarian aid for Rohingyas refugees and others affected by conflicts in Myanmar.
“The EU is firmly found with Rohingyas refugees in Bangladesh, just as we have had it for seven years,” said EU crisis commissioner Hadja Lahbib.
“With a conflict that was still raging in the state of Rakhine and through Myanmar, their safe and worthy return remains out of reach,” said Lahbib, who visited refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar on Monday.
