The cuts will reduce the value of the rations provided to Rohingya refugees $8 a month or 27 cents a day.
At the beginning of the year, refugees received a ration of US$12 per person per month, which was just enough to meet daily needs. However, on March 1, this was reduced to $10 due to a lack of financial support.
“Extremely concerned”
“That worries us a lot WFP was forced to cut food aid to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh,” said Gwyn Lewis, the UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh.
“The The consequences for nutrition and health will be devastating, especially for women and children and the most vulnerable in the community. We urgently appeal for international support.”
The predominantly Muslim Rohingya fled by the hundreds of thousands after a military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine State in August 2017, which the then UN human rights commissioner described as a paragon of ethnic cleansing.
Those fleeing persecution were joined by some 300,000 who sought refuge in Bangladesh from previous waves of displacement, and nearly a million now reside in what is effectively the world’s largest refugee camp.
Depending on the ration as a lifeline
Only 24.6 percent of the relief efforts for the predominantly Muslim Rohingya are allocated to providing basic health services, nutrition, food and education to refugees have no other source of support.
People living in Rohingya camps are barred from work by the Bangladeshi authorities, “and they depend entirely on funding from the international community,” Mr Lewis added.
His call was echo from three of the UN Human Rights Council– appointed independent experts to monitor the situation.
tom andrews, Michael FachriAnd Olivier De Schutterwarned that the cuts would be devastating and urged donors to provide enough funds to fully restore rations.
“In three months, the food rations of the Rohingya refugees have been cut by a third, further affecting the health and safety of the already suffering population severe trauma and deprivation‘ said the experts.
“Devastatingly predictable” consequences
“The consequences of ration cuts will be devastatingly predictable: acute malnutrition, child mortality, violence and even deaths will skyrocket.”
“It will also contribute to increasing regional instability, and some Rohingya may decide it’s better to trust their lives on it.” traffickers and smugglers And risk their lives at sea than starve and even die in the camps‘ the independent UN experts warned.
Child development is impaired
“The impact on the Rohingya will be severe and long-lasting. inhibit children’s development and cloud the hopes of future generations. Vulnerable populations, including pregnant and breastfeeding women, adolescent girls and children under five, will bear the brunt of the cuts and face even more exploitation and abuse,” they said.
Even before the first round of ration cuts, health indicators for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh were grim, the experts warned.
45 percent of Rohingya families do not get enough food. Forty percent of the Rohingya children suffered from stunted growth and more than half suffered from anemia.
Cyclone Mocha, which made landfall in western Myanmar on May 14, damaged or destroyed the homes of around 40,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, adding to their suffering Increase in household needs.
Course reversal inevitable
“Member States Urgent action is needed to close the $56 million funding gap for food rations that led to these cuts,” and urges those who have already cut to reverse course.
“Member States that have not yet provided financial assistance to the Rohingya should do so immediately,” the experts said.
“The failure to provide sustainable food to Rohingya families in Bangladesh is a problem.” Defilement of the conscience of the international community. They are not in Bangladesh voluntarily, but because of genocidal attacks by the Myanmar military,” the experts concluded.
