Cox’s Bazar: Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are bracing for a new wave of anguish due to the lack of real political solutions for their cause, coupled with the expected shortages of humanitarian aid to meet their basic living needs.
According to Qatar News Agency, life-saving aid and material support from Bangladesh and the international community have played a pivotal role in meeting the basic needs of the Rohingya over the past eight years. However, fluctuations in funding have been alarming and caused shortages in aid. In 2024, humanitarian agencies appealed to the international community to provide $852 million in food, shelter, fuel, and cooking appliances to cover the needs of 1.35 million of Rohingya refugees, in addition to capacity-building, healthcare and education materials, but no adequate funding was provided to those agencies, resulting in dramatically impeding the humanitarian efforts devoted to supporting the refugees and their hosts in Bangladesh.
Consequently, food allocations were reduced in the first half of 2024, with health centers facing shortages of medical teams, as well as professional medical equipment and medicines. The United Nations warned of the consequences of this massive reduction in humanitarian aid declared by Western nations with respect to the Rohingya situation.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the Rohingya camps in the Cox’s Bazar area of Bangladesh, the largest refugee settlement in the world, and stated that the World Food Programme may reduce food rations for the Rohingya from $12.50 to $6 per person per month, effective in April, due to a funding shortfall, raising concerns about a potential rise in hunger rates in camps that are bursting at the seams.
Guterres addressed the conflicting parties in Myanmar, urging them to exercise the utmost restraint, prioritize the protection of civilians in accordance with international humanitarian law, and prevent further incitement of tensions and sectarian violence, in preparation for the consolidation of democracy.
His visit to the Cox’s Bazar camps was part of an annual tradition he began years ago when he served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. During Ramadan, he visits a Muslim community facing formidable circumstances in various parts of the world to observe fasting and break the fast with them, drawing global attention to their plight.
In an initiative to address aspects of the humanitarian funding crisis, the European Union previously proposed engaging Rohingya refugees in economic activities through the establishment of small projects within refugee camps in Bangladesh. This aims to reduce their reliance on humanitarian aid amid stalled efforts to repatriate them to their homeland.
The EU emphasized focusing on sustainable solutions that decrease refugees’ dependence on aid, expressing its desire to continue supporting initiatives that enhance economic and living opportunities for refugees while also benefiting host communities.
Over one million Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar reside in 34 camps in the Cox’s Bazar border region in southeastern Bangladesh. They fled severe repression in 2017 when Myanmar authorities launched a campaign of genocide in the Arakan region.
Refugees in these camps face dire conditions with no work, education, services, or external communication. Other countries in the region host approximately 150,000 Rohingya refugees, while an estimated 600,000 remain in Myanmar’s Rakhine State under inhumane conditions.
In Bangladesh camps, refugees live in shelters made of plastic and bamboo on steep, fragile lands without electricity. Water is sourced from tube wells operated by hand pumps, and refugees rely entirely on external aid and services provided by international humanitarian organizations.
Each year, the harsh living conditions in the camps worsen with the onset of monsoon winds and heavy rains. These rains uproot fragile shelters, create mudslides, and sweep away everything in their path, especially on exposed lands where trees have been cut down by refugees for building and fuel.
Myanmar does not recognize the Rohingya as citizens, labeling them as Bengali migrants who arrived during the 20th century, despite their presence in the country for generations. Myanmar officially stripped them of citizenship in 1982, making them the largest stateless community in the world. The United Nations has described the Rohingya as one of the most persecuted minorities on the planet.