Saturday | 5 October 2024 | Reg No- 06
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Saturday | 5 October 2024 | Epaper

Slashing food aid to make Rohingyas go hungry

Published : Monday, 19 June, 2023 at 12:00 AM  Count : 1330
Kamal Uddin Mazumder
Food insecurity in those camps means more trafficking of women, children, and adolescent girls, and more malnourishment of the young in particular. With the economic hardships creating an added burden on the refugees, criminal gangs would find it easier to recruit Rohingya youth to serve their criminal activities, from drug dealing to prostitution to human trafficking


The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has cut life-saving food vouchers for Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar to just $8 for a month, or less than 9 cents per meal, putting another blow to them. For the past few years, funds under the Joint Response Plan (JRP) have been on the decline, increasing the shortfall. In 2022, only $553 million of the required $881 million was received under JRP, a shortfall of 37 percent. In 2021, the shortfall was 28 percent, and in 2020, it was 40 percent. The 2023 appeal, which requested $876 million, has only been 24.6% funded as of June, making Rohingya refugees particularly vulnerable this year.

At the beginning of the year, refugees were receiving rations from the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) of $12 per person per month-just enough to meet their daily needs. However, on March 1, due to a lack of funding, the rations were reduced to $10. The vouchers are used to purchase 13kg of rice per person, as well as other food products. The WFP is now reducing the value of its food aid from US$10 to US$8 per person per month. Such a worrisome trend is detrimental to the well-being of the refugees who have lived in the camps for the last six years.

WFP food assistance is the only reliable source of food for the Rohingya. According to WFP data, four in 10 families were not consuming enough food, and presently 12 percent of children are acutely malnourished and 41 percent are chronically malnourished. This was before the ration cut. So, the result of food budget cuts will be devastating due to widespread malnutrition and hunger.

Food insecurity in those camps means more trafficking of women, children, and adolescent girls, and more malnourishment of the young in particular. With the economic hardships creating an added burden on the refugees, criminal gangs would find it easier to recruit Rohingya youth to serve their criminal activities, from drug dealing to prostitution to human trafficking.

The United Nations' decision to slash food aid for the Rohingya has come as a shock, not just for the refugees but also for the host nation. Such a decline in aid is increasing pressure on Bangladesh as it has to maintain the camp with inadequate funds. Moreover, it is also not sustainable for the host country to increase its own budgetary support for the Rohingya since the country is already facing an economic downturn fuelled by the war in Ukraine, inflation, a negative balance of payments, and fluctuating forex reserves. So, how does the international community propose the Rohingya refugees survive on a monthly allowance of USD 8, down from USD 10, which was already a little too stretched for them?

When Bangladesh opened its border on humanitarian grounds and hosted the Rohingya refugees in 2017, the international community pledged to provide the necessary budgetary support and ensure quick repatriation. Six years on, the international community must not forget its commitment. They must play a more active role, as they pledged to do in 2017. While quick and swift repatriation should be at the center of the commitment, the budget shortfall must be avoided as long as the Rohingya live in temporary shelters in Cox's Bazar.

Not only Bangladesh, but the Rohingya crisis is the responsibility of the international community, which has not only failed to broker a safe and dignified repatriation for the refugees but has also shamelessly invested in the military-controlled businesses and development activities in Myanmar, including in Rakhine state, from where the Rohingyas have been mercilessly uprooted. The Rohingya deserve more than just mere words of "concern," and the world must remember that.

The Rohingyas now live in inhumane conditions in the camps. The reduction in aid means further worsening the situation. Therefore, budgetary support should increase with time instead of declining. Other than paying lip service to what a brilliant job Bangladesh and its government have done to save people from deliberate persecution, the foreign powers must reprioritize the Rohingya refugees and reaffirm their funding commitments to meet their basic sustenance needs. Talking about human rights and dignity must be backed up by financial commitments.

The writer is a Researcher and Strategic Affairs Analyst


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