Japan has announced $4.4 million in food assistance for the Rohingya population in Cox's Bazar against the background of a fund crisis which led to ration cuts in the camps, according to the UN agency World Food Program (WFP) said.
The agreement on the new donation was signed in Dhaka on Tuesday.
“Following the $1 million emergency food assistance in March of this year, we are pleased to announce our decision to provide $4.4 million in life-saving food assistance to the Rohingya through WFP,” said Kiminori Iwama, ambassador of Japan in Bangladesh.
“We hope that this grant will help alleviate the severe food crisis in the camps. Japan will continue to work towards a durable settlement, including repatriation to Myanmar, and will cooperate with international organizations, including the WFP, to improve the lives of the refugees and the host communities,” the ambassador said in a statement.
The Rohingyas rely entirely on humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs. In March, the WFP's food assistance for the entire Rohingya population in the Cox's Bazar camps had to be cut down from $12 to $10, then in June, to $8 per person, per month due to a lack of funding.
With less food to get by, families have been left with grim choices in making ends meet, making them even more vulnerable to violence, exploitation and human trafficking, the WFP said.
Already four in 10 families were not consuming enough food and 12% of children were acutely malnourished. This was before the ration cut.
Although Bangladesh missed the eye of Cyclone Mocha, all camps were affected. As many as 40,000 shelters – made of bamboo and tarpaulin – were damaged or destroyed. There is an urgent need to replenish food stocks as the monsoon season sets in.
“At a time when we have been forced to cut food rations for the Rohingya families, this contribution from Japan could not have been more on time,” said Dom Scalpelli, WFP resident representative and country director, in the statement.
“We hope more donors will step up and keep the plight of the Rohingya high on their aid agenda. We are appealing for $48 million to restore full rations. 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,” he added.
