The World Food Programme (WFP) has halved food rations for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, just days after a similar reduction sparked protests in Kenya. The WFP, which relies entirely on voluntary contributions, is unable to fund the full ration and will now provide a food voucher worth 726 Bangladeshi taka (£4.60) per person, down from 1,515 taka.
Daniel Sullivan, the director for Africa, Asia, and the Middle East at Refugees International, blamed the US, UK, and others for the cuts to aid funding. Aid budgets were already under strain, and further setbacks came after Donald Trump’s freeze on US aid spending and the UK’s decision to reduce aid spending from 0.5% of GDP to 0.3%.
Sullivan warned that the reduction in food aid will have devastating effects for over a million refugees and will lead to increased malnutrition and gender-based violence. He said, “With USAid decimated, and other donors following suit with their own reductions, the outlook for restored food aid is dismal and will lead to the loss of life.”
Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and Kenya expressed their distress over the reduction in food aid and the impact it will have on their health and nutrition. The monthly food voucher is currently enough to buy 10kg of rice, 1.5kg of lentils, and 500g of salt. The reduction could also lead to crime in the camps as refugees struggle to make ends meet.
More than 1.3 million Rohingya refugees live in the camps of Cox’s Bazar and photos of protests in Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp, which hosts 300,000 people, showed refugees clashing with Kenyan police. The reductions also come at a time when a million people in Somalia are at risk of falling into crisis levels of hunger due to conflict, drought, and inflation. The WFP is $300m short of funding for the next six months and will have to reduce support for the most vulnerable people.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/mar/06/world-food-programme-food-rations-rohingya-bangladesh
