More than a million Rohingya refugees living in overcrowded Bangladesh camps began receiving drastically reduced food assistance Wednesday, creating widespread fear and desperation among families already struggling to survive.
The 1.2 million refugees currently trapped in these makeshift settlements had been receiving $12 monthly per person – an amount community leaders have consistently described as insufficient. The majority of these refugees escaped violent military assaults in Myanmar during 2017, and Bangladesh law prevents them from seeking employment, making humanitarian assistance their primary lifeline.
The United Nations World Food Program has implemented a new classification system that distributes aid based on family vulnerability levels. Approximately 17% of refugees will now receive only $7 monthly, while one-third classified as “extremely food insecure” – including families led by children – will maintain the $12 allocation.
“It is very difficult to understand how we will survive now with only $7. Our children will suffer the most,” said camp resident Mohammed Rahim, who said he and his wife were already struggling to feed their three children before the reduction. “I am deeply concerned that people may face severe hunger and some may even die due to lack of food.”
While the WFP previously cautioned that assistance might decrease following significant funding reductions by the United States and other nations last year – resulting in a one-third budget loss – spokesperson Kun Li stated Wednesday’s changes were unconnected to those cuts. Li emphasized this should not be characterized as a “ration cut,” despite two-thirds of residents receiving diminished assistance.
The organization maintains that reducing aid below 2,100 daily calories would constitute a true ration reduction, the established minimum for emergency food assistance. According to WFP officials, even recipients of the $7 monthly allocation will meet this nutritional threshold.
The revised approach “ensures that even with differentiated ration sizes, all Rohingya continue meeting their minimum food needs, strengthening fairness, transparency, and equity in food assistance,” the agency stated.
However, Bangladesh’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammad Mizanur Rahman directly contradicted this assessment, calling the changes exactly what they appear to be – ration cuts.
Rahman warned The Associated Press that desperate refugees will likely attempt dangerous escapes seeking food and employment opportunities.
“Law and order will be deteriorated,” he predicted.
The same military forces responsible for the 2017 attacks – which the United States officially recognized as genocide – seized control of Myanmar’s government in 2021 and continue ruling the country. This situation makes safe repatriation virtually impossible for the Rohingya community.
Previous funding cuts deepened camp conditions significantly, especially impacting children through school closures that contributed to increased kidnapping, forced marriages, and child labor. Rohingya support programs received only half their required funding in 2024 and just 19% this year.
During 2023, donation shortfalls forced the WFP to reduce monthly rations to $8. By November, agency reports showed 90% of camp residents could not afford adequate nutrition, while 15% of children experienced acute malnutrition – the highest levels ever documented in these settlements. The $12 monthly allocation was restored throughout 2024.
Camp residents who endured the previous reduction are questioning their ability to survive additional cuts. Dozens of Rohingya organized protests Tuesday opposing the new distribution system and demanding full ration restoration. Demonstrators carried signs warning of starvation and declaring “Food is a right, not a choice.”
Rahim, whose family’s assistance dropped to $7 monthly, explained that illness prevents him from working while his children cannot safely leave the camps due to rising kidnapping, violence, and trafficking threats.
Several acquaintances are already contemplating returning to Myanmar despite extreme dangers, Rahim reported. Others are considering perilous sea journeys to Malaysia aboard unsafe fishing vessels – trips that claim hundreds of Rohingya lives annually through drowning or disappearances.
“Ration cuts are pushing people toward life-threatening risks, leaving them with no safe choices,” he said. “I am very worried about the future of our children.”
