UN to cut food aid for Rohingyas in Bangladesh from April

The United Nations (UN) will cut monthly food aid for Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char by more than half from April due to a funding crisis.

The World Food Programme (WFP) informed this to Bangladesh on Wednesday (March 5).

Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) Mizanur Rahman said that WFP verbally communicated its decision on Tuesday before sending an official letter on Wednesday.

The letter stated that since the onset of the Rohingya crisis in 2017, WFP has been providing food assistance to over one million displaced Rohingya living in 33 camps in Cox’s Bazar and on Bhasan Char.

Currently, refugees receive a monthly food voucher worth $12.50 per person in Cox’s Bazar and $15 on Bhasan Char.

However, from April 1, WFP will reduce the amount to $6 per person per month across all camps, it added.

Citing funding shortages, WFP stated in the letter that it had been trying to maintain the $12.50 allocation per person but failed to secure sufficient donor support.

Diplomatic sources attribute the funding crisis to the suspension of financial aid by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Previously, US funding accounted for nearly 80 per cent of WFP’s support for Rohingya refugees.