WFP’s ration cuts risk worsening humanitarian crisis at Rohingya camps

Bangladesh Food Security Network (KHANI Bangladesh), an alliance of non-government organisations, warned that the upcoming reductions in food ration cuts by the World Food Programme (WFP) are likely to trigger a food crisis among Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh amid an already dire humanitarian situation and ongoing funding shortages.

Effective from 1 April, the monthly food assistance per person will be reduced from $12.50 to $6 due to severe funding shortfalls, undermining the essential support needed to meet minimum energy and nutrient requirements.

KHANI has expressed deep concern over the WFP’s recent announcement to reduce food rations for Rohingya refugees residing in the world’s largest refugee settlement in Bangladesh, the NGO alliance said in statement on Saturday.

Without urgent intervention, these recent cuts will have catastrophic consequences: further weakening food security, increasing child mortality risks, and heightening social instability and growing desperation in already overcrowded camps, they said.

In 2024, Bangladesh appealed for $275,000,214 in humanitarian aid for the Rohingyas, but as of now, only $118,226,048 has been received, leaving a 57 per cent funding gap.

KHANI urged the United Nations to uphold the full spectrum of human rights for Rohingya refugees, with a focus on their food security and dignity, by addressing the funding gap, restoring essential services, and ensuring long-term, sustainable support that enables self-reliance.

Living in overcrowded camps, restricted by barbed wire and lacking legal rights to work or move freely, the Rohingya are entirely dependent on humanitarian aid, making sustained support not only necessary but crucial as malnutrition continues to rise at an alarming rate.

As of 31 January 2025, more than 1 million Rohingya refugees currently live in Bangladesh. In 2023 since the violence broke out in Rakhine State in August 2017. WFP cut monthly rations from $12 to $8 per person, leading to a sharp decline in food consumption and worsening malnutrition.

At present, Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar are now experiencing the worst levels of malnutrition since the 2017 mass displacement.

Malnutrition rates among children have exceeded 15 per cent, and cases of severe acute malnutrition surged by 25 per cent in January 2025 compared to the same month in 2024, followed by an even steeper 27 per cent increase in February.

This alarming trend is driven by multiple factors in 2024: the deteriorating security situation and underfunding which led to reduced food rations in the first half, prolonged monsoon rains in 2024 that worsened sanitation conditions and triggered diarrhoea, cholera, and dengue outbreaks, and a rising number of new families seeking refuge in the camps.

During the visit of António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General at the Rohingya Camp on 14 March, he said, ‘“We are at risk of cutting the food rations in this camp. That would be an unmitigated disaster that we cannot accept because people will suffer and even people will die.”

A source from Save the Children quoted Sufiya, 46 years old Rohingya woman who said food security is one way to ensure more peace in the camps. ‘If there is peace in the stomach, then the world will also be at peace’.

The international community must sustain strong, visible, and measurable efforts to address the Rohingya refugee crisis, with a priority on ensuring food security through timely, flexible, and adequate funding.

Until a sustainable solution, including voluntary and dignified repatriation, is achieved, urgent support is needed to prevent further deterioration in nutrition and overall humanitarian conditions in the camps. Aid efforts must shift toward a sustainable, long-term approach that builds resilience by incorporating livelihoods, skills training, and economic opportunities for both Rohingya refugees and host communities.

According to WFP, to sustain full rations, $15 million is required for April, and $81 million until the end of 2025. KHANI Bangladesh calls on the international community to take immediate action to ensure urgent, flexible, adequate humanitarian aid for the food and nutrition support for Rohingya refugees to prevent further humanitarian disaster. Food security is not just a necessity but a fundamental human right, as enshrined in Article 25(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

"To ensure full human rights for the Rohingya, the global community must take responsibility for guaranteeing their food security as long as they remain in these camps. Without such action, food insecurity may lead to increased trafficking, arrests within the camps, and even loss of life during dangerous border crossings, further destabilizing host communities. Therefore, we call for immediate measures to secure adequate food assistance alongside long-term strategies to address rehabilitation challenges and support safe, dignified repatriation”, said Nurul Alam Masud, Secretary of KHANI Bangladesh.

KHANI Bangladesh stands in solidarity with the Rohingya community and calls for urgent global action to uphold their fundamental rights and dignity.