Rohingya refugees wait for relief supplies during Ramadan, at the Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, March 16, 2025. - Reuters
COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh: They first faced persecution in their country. Then a deadly crackdown by Myanmar’s army sent hundreds of thousands fleeing into Bangladesh. Driven from their homes, many of the Rohingya have since lived in refugee settlements entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance.
That assistance - largely led by the United States - is at the risk of being cut, following US President Donald Trump’s decree to freeze most of his country’s foreign aid. For more than one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh it means they could be left with too little food and money for survival.
No cuts have happened yet. But the UN World Food Programme said if it is not able to raise funds, it will have no option but to halve food rations to US$6 a month from previous US$12.50 in the country's southern coastal district of Cox’s Bazar, where the Rohingya live in sprawling camps.
It was not immediately clear if the WFP’s decision was directly related to the Trump administration’s action, but during a recent visit to the refugee camps, UN Secretary-General António Guterres criticised the U.S. and other countries in Europe for halting or reducing their aid budgets.
To be sure, a large portion of funds needed for supporting Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh has come from the US Agency for International Development, but the country’s government and dozens of aid organisations also look after their daily needs. Yet, any drop in humanitarian aid could have extreme impact on the lives of Rohingya refugees.
"Cox’s Bazar is ground zero for the impact of budget cuts on people in desperate need,” Guterres said last week during his visit to the camps. He said that drastic cuts in humanitarian aid are "a crime” and urged the international community to continue to support the Rohingya refugees.
Aid workers have warned that aid cuts - if they become effective in April - will devastate the lives of the refugees, especially women and children. "We will have no choice but to reduce rations starting in April," said WFP spokesperson Kun Li.
Before being forced from Myanmar, farmer Mahabub Alam was an influential figure in his community, serving as the chairman of a local government body in a village in western Rakhine state. Today, the 56-year-old says, he is broke and his nine-member family solely depends on aid, because like other refugees he is not formally allowed to work outside the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.
Alam has been worried, even shocked, since he first heard that food rations could be cut to half from next month.
"We will not be able to live on that (US$6 a month), and we will die here,” said Alam, who has been living in the camp since 2017, after fleeing the Myanmar military's brutal attacks on the Rohingya.
The US$6 allowance per month will only be sufficient for minimum quantities of rations, Alam said. According to UNICEF, more than 15 per cent of children in the camps are acutely malnourished.
"Earlier, we used to be able to eat something, have medications, and fish, but now we won’t be able to have any of them,” he said.
Alam’s worries are not only limited to having access to food and financial support. He said aid cuts could also fuel unrest in the camps, where groups among the refugees have sometimes clashed over essentials and to establish supremacy.
"There will be an increase in number of thieves and robbers here. People will get kidnapped, things will be stolen and unrest will increase. The situation will worsen,” Alam said.
He said he'd rather go back to Myanmar - but only if there are guarantees for safety. In reality, returning is not option for the refugees, as military-ruled Myanmar is mired in a civil war.
The aid cuts - if they do come - could also cause major concern for camp residents who need money for medical treatment.
"It will be very difficult for us to live,” said Tomida Khatun, 46, who arrived at Cox's Bazar with her family in 2017. "We have diseases, high blood pressure and diabetes. We need money for treatment, but we will not have any.”
"We are worried about how we are going to feed our children. How are we going to send them to school?" Khatun said.
The monthly food ration of US$12.50 for each member of her family is already stretched to the limit, she said, and the funding shortfall could only makes things worse. - AP
