With the Rohingya repatriation being further delayed six years into the crisis and similar crises developing in other parts of the globe, UN agencies dealing with refugees in Cox's Bazar camps have requested additional funding to assist over 1.1 million stranded Myanmar nationals.
Families of the Rohingya, who live in small shelters and have no means of subsistence, rely solely on humanitarian aid to endure.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) asserts that when refugees leave refugee camps in search of unlawful employment, they face heightened risks of exploitation and abuse, which can exacerbate tensions between refugees and the host community.
In March of this year, funding shortages compelled the WFP to reduce the value of its General Food Assistance vouchers from $12 to $10 per person per month.
Before the ration cut, even with the WFP's food assistance, four in 10 families were not consuming enough food and 12% of children were acutely malnourished, the WFP said.
Despite concerted humanitarian efforts, 45% of Rohingya families were not eating a sufficient diet and malnutrition was widespread in the camps. The Global Acute Malnutrition rate for children stands at 12% -- just below the 15% WHO "Emergency" threshold but is still categorized as "Serious."
The UN agency said some 40% of children have stunted growth and 40% of pregnant and lactating women are anaemic.
As of June 2020, over 11% of children suffered from acute malnutrition and more than 30% from chronic malnutrition in the refugee camps.
Now that the shortage of funds has increased and rations will be reduced to $8 on June 1, the WFP fears that children will be removed from school and females will be forced into marriage.
With less sustenance available, refugees have little choice but to resort to negative coping mechanisms. Moreover, those who are desperate enough to travel by sea confront perilous journeys and uncertain outcomes.
"We are appealing for urgent support so that we can restore rations to the full amount as soon as possible. Anything less than $12 has dire consequences not only on nutrition for women and children, but also protection, safety and security for everyone in the camps," Dom Scalpelli, WFP Resident Representative and Country Director in Bangladesh, said on Friday.
"WFP food assistance is the only reliable source of food for the Rohingya. We are extremely grateful for all contributions received so far, but we still need $56 million to restore the full ration and keep this lifeline intact until the end of the year," Scalpelli said.
Earlier, when announcing the first aid cut in mid-February and hinting at additional cuts this year, Scalpelli predicted that with each ration cut, "malnutrition will certainly rise. With each ration cut, families will increasingly resort to dangerous strategies to cope. Sadly, women, adolescent girls and children will be the worst affected."
Is aid cut a political decision?
With the support of donors and partners, the WFP has been providing food, nutrition and other critical assistance to Rohingya men, women and children who fled genocidal attacks by the Myanmar military in 2017.
All Rohingyas -- nearly 1 million of them -- receive food assistance via vouchers currently valued at $10 per person per month. Families can choose from over 40 dry and fresh food items at the WFP outlets throughout the camps.
Half of the camps are managed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the other half by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), while the WFP oversees food aid in all the camps.
The UNHCR manages non-food items and services for the Rohingyas, such as education, healthcare and nutrition. It says Bangladesh houses over 838,000 Rohingyas of over 200,000 families, while Bangladesh says the number is over 1.2 million, with the influx beginning in the 1978.
Khin Maung, the leader of the Rohingya Youth Association functioning in the camps, told AFP that the new decision to reduce food rations came as a surprise to the refugees and would result in starvation.
He criticised the United Nations for this "shameful action" and attributed it to a political decision. Some have claimed it is a ruse to return Rohingyas to Myanmar.
Recently, the United Nations and foreign diplomats urged the Bangladeshi government to lift the prohibition prohibiting Rohingya from working outside of the camps. However, there are concerns that this may engender resentment among the local populace and discourage Rohingya from returning to Myanmar.
Why do donors back off?
An NGO official linked to humanitarian projects in Cox's Bazar said that the WFP officials started informing the refugees about the fresh cuts in early May so that they could prepare for the situation.
"It's not a political decision to cut food aid for the Rohingyas," the officer told Dhaka Tribune, asking not to be named.
"The focus of the donors shifts usually, five years after a crisis, when it's called a protracted crisis. Since acute needs also appeared in other parts of the world, including a flood in Afghanistan, the war in Sudan, and a refugee crisis in Venezuela, the developed countries felt obligated to provide assistance in those countries.
"Moreover, the economic recession in many countries in the post-Covid situation and the Ukraine war has forced them to cut their internal spending and aid budget."
The official explains that in the event of a paucity of funds due to a protracted crisis, such as in Syria or Yemen, donors typically reduce spending on education or construction materials.
The official stated: "Cuts to food aid are unnatural and may appear to be a severe blow to the children and women in the Rohingya camps."
While the US remains the highest contributor of humanitarian aid for the Rohingyas, the UK has been reducing its aid budget for this community since the Covid-19 onslaught.
The UK government had already reduced aid to Yemen and Syria.
Since 2017, the UK has provided £352 million of humanitarian support to Rohingya refugees and host communities in Bangladesh. On May 21, the UK promised an additional £2.3 million for health care, shelter, and basic site management support.
The UK government came under severe criticism after cutting aid to the humanitarian response by more than 40% in 2021.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) pledged £27.6m to the humanitarian sector's joint response plan, compared with £47.5m in 2020.
Kirsty McNeill, Save The Children's executive director of policy, advocacy and campaigns, said the UK was stepping back when it needed to step up. She warned that this aid cut would have catastrophic consequences for some of the world's most desperate and vulnerable people.
Catastrophic, long-lasting impact
On March 2, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Tom Andrews made an urgent appeal to Member States to reverse "the shameful, catastrophic cuts" to food rations for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
These rations cuts are a stain on the conscience of the international community, he said. "Many UN Member States have offered rhetorical support for the Rohingyas. But Rohingya families cannot eat political rhetoric. It is past time for UN Member States to replace empty declarations of support with life-saving action," Andrews said.
He predicted that the impact of these cuts would be catastrophic and long-lasting.
