WFP appeals for urgent funding to prevent ration cuts for Rohingyas

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has called for urgent funding for its Bangladesh operations, warning that a funding shortfall would curb rations for Rohingya refugees in the world's largest refugee settlement.

In a press release issued today (7 March), WFP warned of a critical funding shortfall threatening its emergency response operations. It said monthly rations will be halved from $12.50 to $6 per person without urgent new funding – just as refugees will prepare to observe Eid, marking the end of Ramadan.

As per a Reuters article published Wednesday, the ration cut would come into effect from 1 April.

All Rohingyas receive vouchers that are redeemed for their choice of food at designated retailers in the camps. To sustain full rations, WFP urgently requires $15 million for April, and $81 million until the end of 2025, reads the release.

"The Rohingya refugee crisis remains one of the world's largest and most protracted," said Dom Scalpelli, WFP Country Director in Bangladesh.

"Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh remain entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance for their survival. Any reduction in food assistance will push them deeper into hunger and force them to resort to desperate measures just to survive," he added.

Earlier on Wednesday, Reuters reported that the United Nations would have to cut food rations to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh from $12.50 to $6 per month in April after failing to secure funding.

In a letter to Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, Bangladesh's top official overseeing the refugee camps, seen by Reuters, the WFP said it had been trying to raise funds to keep the rations at $12.50 per month but had failed to find donors.

The WFP also said cutting rations below $6 would "fall below the minimum survival level and fail to meet basic dietary needs."  

Acknowledging the refugees' "complete reliance on humanitarian aid," the agency said the reduction would strain families struggling to meet basic needs and fuel "increasing tensions within the camps."

It said it had appealed to multiple donors for funding and that cost-saving measures alone were not enough.

While the WFP has not specified whether the reduction was due to the Trump administration's decision to cut US foreign aid globally, the official told Reuters it was likely as the United States had been the top donor in the Rohingya crisis.

Escalating crisis with new influx

In recent months, new waves of Rohingya refugees, potentially exceeding 100,000 people, have crossed into Bangladesh, fleeing conflicts in neighbouring Myanmar.

The continued influx of Rohingya seeking safety places an even greater strain on already overstretched resources.

WFP has already begun communicating with the Rohingya community about the potential ration cuts.

"Now more than ever, the Rohingya need us to stand with them. These families have nowhere else to go, and WFP's food aid is the difference between survival and despair. Immediate support is urgently needed to prevent this crisis from escalating further," added Scalpelli in today's release.

Bangladesh is sheltering more than one million Rohingya, members of a persecuted Muslim minority who fled violent purges in neighbouring Myanmar mostly in 2016 and 2017, in overcrowded camps in the southern Cox's Bazar district where they have limited access to job opportunities or education.

Roughly 70,000 fled to Bangladesh last year, driven in part by growing hunger in their home Rakhine state, Reuters reported.

For a population with no legal status, no freedom of movement outside the camps, and no sustainable livelihood opportunities, further cuts will aggravate protection and security risks.

In 2023, severe funding constraints forced WFP to reduce rations from $12 to $8 per person per month, leading to a sharp decline in food consumption and the worst levels of malnutrition among children since 2017 – reaching over 15% – above the emergency threshold. 

Rations were later increased when funding was received.