UN slashes food rations for Rohingya refugees due to US aid cuts
Rations will be halved for around one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh from next month due to a lack of funds, the United Nations (UN) food agency has said.
Meanwhile, the United Nations' migration agency has also slashed aid to hundreds of Rohingya refugees in Indonesia, according to a letter seen by Reuters and two people briefed on the matter, because of massive funding cuts by their biggest donor, the United States.
In the letter, dated Feb.28, the International Organisation for Migration said it would be unable to provide healthcare and cash assistance to 925 Rohingya refugees sheltering in the western city of Pekanbaru from March 5, "due to resource constraints." Some help would continue for the most vulnerable people, it said.
Huge numbers of the persecuted and stateless Rohingya community live in squalid relief camps in Bangladesh, most arriving after having fled from a 2017 military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar.
Successive aid cuts have already caused severe hardship among Rohingya in the overcrowded settlements, who are reliant on aid and suffer from rampant malnutrition.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said in a letter on Wednesday that "severe funding shortfalls" had forced a cut in monthly food vouchers from $12.50 to $6.00 per person.
"Unfortunately, we have still not received sufficient funding, and cost-saving measures alone are not enough," the letter said.
Md. Shamsud Douza of Bangladesh's refugee agency told reporters that his office would meet community leaders next week to discuss the cuts.
A decision by US President Donald Trump's administration to make drastic cuts to foreign aid has sent shockwaves through humanitarian initiatives worldwide. But WFP's Kun Li said that the United States remained a donor for Rohingya aid and the ration cuts reflected a "funding gap across multiple sources."
Funds raised were only half the $852 million sought by foreign aid agencies, she told reporters.
Wednesday's letter comes days before a visit by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who is slated to meet Rohingya refugees to mark the annual Muslim Ramadan fast.
The 2017 crackdown in Myanmar — now the subject of a UN genocide investigation — sent around 750,000 Rohingya fleeing into neighbouring Bangladesh with harrowing stories of murder, rape and arson.
Bangladesh has struggled to support its refugee population. The prospects of a wholesale return to Myanmar or resettlement elsewhere are remote.
Rohingya living in the camps around Cox's Bazar are not allowed to seek employment and are almost entirely dependent on limited humanitarian aid to survive.
Large numbers of refugees have attempted hazardous sea crossings in an effort to find a better life away from the camps, including more than 250 Rohingya who arrived in Indonesia in January.
The head of the UN refugee agency Filippo Grandi recently said in a post on X during a visit to Cox's Bazar that if donor support to the camps "decreases dramatically - which may happen - the huge work done by the Bangladesh government, aid agencies and refugees will be impacted, putting thousands at risk of hunger, disease and insecurity."
A previous round of ration cuts to Rohingya in 2023 that reduced the amount of food rations to $8 monthly led to a sharp increase in hunger and malnutrition, according to the UN.
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