Rohingya refugees in crammed Bangladeshi camps say they are worried about a US decision to cut food rations by half beginning next month, while a refugee official says the reduction will impact the nutrition of more than 1 million refugees.
US President Donald Trump abruptly stopped most foreign aid and dismantled the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which has significantly hampered the global humanitarian sector.
Mr Trump's January 20 executive order froze the funding for a 90-day review.
The World Food Program, the main UN food agency, recently announced that because of a funding shortfall, cuts to food rations will take effect from April 1 in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.
"Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh remain entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance for their survival," said WFP country director Dom Scalpelli.
"Any reduction in food assistance will push them deeper into hunger and force them to resort to desperate measures just to survive."
Shamsud Douza, a Bangladeshi official responsible for refugee relief, said that the monthly ration for Rohingya refugees had been reduced from $US12.50 ($20) to $US6 ($9.50).
"They will get less nutritious food, which may lead to a lack of nutrition," he said.
"There will be social and mental pressure created amongst the Rohingya people in their community. They will have to look for an alternative for the food."
Likelihood of more dangerous sea journeys
The UN refugee agency report last week said that deteriorating conditions in Bangladesh was pushing more Rohingya refugees to take "desperate" journeys in search of safety.
"Unseaworthy vessels can lead to shipwreck and death or severe distress situations at sea from a lack of essential supplies such as food and water," the UNHCR said.
"Cases of malnutrition have been identified as well as skin diseases and communicable diseases contracted during the journey."
Some 9,200 Rohingya refugees attempted boat journeys in 2024, the agency said, adding that 657 were reported missing or deceased from maritime movements.
Dozens of Rohingya refugees died after their boat capsized at sea near Indonesia in March 2024, with local media reporting they had aimed to reach Australia.
Bangladesh had previously called upon Australia to resettle more Rohingya refugees languishing in camps to prevent them from attempting dangerous sea journeys.
Arakan Project director Chris Lewa told the ABC ration cuts would "heighten violence, abduction and lawlessness within the refugee camps".
Combined with the Trump administration's cancellation of resettlement opportunities to the US, the cuts would incentivise boat movements in the region, she said.
"I still hope the US administration will reverse its funding cuts for life-saving food assistance, and that other donors such as Australia will step in to fill the gaps."
The Australian Council for International Development's interim chief executive Matthew Maury told the ABC that cuts to food assistance were "beyond devastating for vulnerable people in Cox's Bazar".
"These developments should prompt the Australian government to assess how it can effectively step up support to Rohingya refugees alongside like-minded donors," he said.
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said Australia was "a major donor to Rohingya in Bangladesh" and had committed more than $540 million in humanitarian assistance to the country since 2017.
"We continue to monitor the humanitarian situation in Bangladesh and across our region closely," they said.
More than 700,000 Muslim Rohingya fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar starting in late August 2017 when Myanmar's military launched a "clearance operation".
The ethnic group faces discrimination and are denied citizenship and other rights in the Buddhist-majority nation.
Following a miliary takeover in 2021, the country has been engulfed in an armed conflict widely seen as civil war.
'How will I buy rice?'
The interim Bangladesh government said the end of USAID payments would stop other projects in Bangladesh, but funding for Rohingya refugees will continue to flow.
The US usually provides almost half of the aid money spent on the humanitarian response to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, which provided about US$300 million ($476 million) in 2024.
As the news of the impending food reductions spread through the camps in Cox's Bazar, fear and frustration gripped refugees.
"I am afraid now about how I am going to run my family, as we don't have any income-generating opportunities here. I got scared when I heard it," 40-year-old Manzur Ahmed said.
"How will I buy rice, chilies, salt, sugar and dal, let alone fish, meat and vegetables, with 700 taka ($9)? We won't even be able to buy [cooking] oil."
Medical treatment was also decreasing, refugees said.
"When we go to the hospital, they don't provide medicines unless it's an emergency," 32-year-old Dildar Begum said.
"Earlier, they would treat anyone who felt unwell."
Bangladesh says Rohingya refugees must return to Myanmar, which has been accused in an international court of genocide against the Rohingya.
Burma Human Rights Network executive director Kyaw Win said the international community was "failing Rohingya refugees at a time when they need support the most".
"These cuts will leave families struggling to survive on dangerously low food rations, pushing children into severe malnutrition and exposing thousands to preventable deaths," he said.
"The world has abandoned the Rohingya once before — we cannot let it happen again."
ABC/AP
