London/Dhaka, April 3 (IANS) As conditions worsen in Bangladesh’s overcrowded refugee camps, thousands of Rohingya refugees are grappling to survive following food aid cuts, heightening concerns over a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation, a report highlighted.
According to a report in Britain’s Independent, the 1.2 million Rohingyas living in the miserable camps receive $12 per person each month – “an amount that the persecuted minority from Myanmar has long warned is barely sustainable.”
Having fled brutal attacks by Myanmar’s military in 2017, it said most Rohingya in the camps are legally prohibited from working in Bangladesh, making them heavily reliant on humanitarian aid for survival.
Under a new tiered system introduced by the UN World Food Programme, the amount each person receives will be based on household needs, with roughly 17 per cent of the beneficiaries receiving as little as $7 per month.
Around one-third of the population classified as “extremely food insecure”, including households headed by children, will continue to receive $12.
“It is very difficult to understand how we will survive now with only $7. Our children will suffer the most,” The Independent quoted a camp resident, Mohammed Rahim, as saying, adding that he and his wife were already struggling to feed their three children before the cut.
“I am deeply concerned that people may face severe hunger and some may even die due to lack of food,” he added.
The report highlighted foreign aid cuts in 2025 also deepened crisis across the camps, especially for children, with the closure of schools fuelling a surge in kidnapping, child marriage and child labour. It added that while funding for Rohingya was only around half in 2025 and stood at 19 per cent this year.
“Hungry, exhausted and increasingly hopeless camp residents who lived through that ration cut wonder how they will cope moving forward. Dozens of Rohingya staged protests against the new system on Tuesday, calling for the restoration of full rations. Many held signs warning of starvation and declaring ‘Food is a right, not a choice’,” the report mentioned.
Rahim, a father of three whose monthly food assistance has been cut to $7 a month, said he is sick, and his children are unable to safely leave the camps to earn a living amid increasing risk of kidnapping, violence and trafficking.
“Ration cuts are pushing people toward life-threatening risks, leaving them with no safe choices. I am very worried about the future of our children,” The Independent quoted Rahim as saying.
–IANS
scor/as
