Monthly food ration per Rohingya now $12
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has moved away from its recent decision to halve the monthly food aid for the Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar and Bhashan Char.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. The monthly ration per refugee has been revised, and it would now be $12 in Cox's Bazar and $13 in Bhashan Char, Refugee, Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) Mohammed Mizanur Rahman told this newspaper.
The WFP informed the RRRC of its decision through a letter yesterday afternoon.
Earlier on March 5, the WFP announced that it would cut the monthly food aid from $12.50 to $6 per refugee from April.
The RRRC said that despite significant funding challenges, WFP has now ensured that food assistance remains at a nearly consistent level. This crucial assistance will help sustain food security and nutrition among the displaced communities.
"We acknowledge and appreciate WFP's relentless efforts to mobilise resources, ensuring that those in need are not left behind. We also urge the international community to step forward with the necessary funding so that these life-saving programs can be sustained in the long term."
Meanwhile, the news of the restoration of the food ration to nearly the previous amount brought joy among the Rohingya refugees.
Mohammad Zubair, chairman of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, thanked the WFP for their consistent support.
He also urged the international community to ensure safe and dignified Rohingya repatriation to Myanmar.
He demanded establishing a safe zone for Rohingyas in the Rakhine state.
Around 1.2 million Rohingya refugees have been living in the squalid camps of Cox's Bazar. Most of them fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar facing a brutal military campaign in 2017.
US TO GIVE $73M FOR ROHINGYAS
The Trump administration said yesterday it will provide $73 million in new financial aid to Rohingya refugees through the WFP, amid concerns that aid cuts could deepen the crisis for the world's largest stateless population, reports news agency Reuters.
"This food and nutrition support through @WFP will provide critically needed food and nutrition assistance for more than one million people," US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a post on X.
"It is important that our international partners engage with sharing the burden with life-saving assistance such as this."
The infusion comes as US President Donald Trump and his administration have made sweeping cuts to foreign assistance as part of his "America First" agenda and wider efforts to drastically cut federal spending and dismantle parts of the US government.
Two UN agencies had warned that a funding deficit would curb rations for the Rohingyas in Bangladesh. Refugees were worried that cuts would worsen hunger, curtail critical healthcare, and fuel crime.
Washington had been the largest provider of aid to the Rohingya refugees, contributing nearly $2.4 billion since 2017, according to the State Department. But the recent freeze on funds after Trump took office in January has forced at least five hospitals to reduce services.
Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk have moved to shutter USAID, the main US foreign aid agency, and merge its remnants into the State Department, fired hundreds of staff and contractors and terminated billions of dollars in services on which tens of millions of people around the world depend.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in February granted a waiver for all life-saving assistance and reasonable administrative costs as necessary to deliver such aid.
The Trump administration official overseeing the dismantling of USAID had proposed phasing out help for the Rohingya, Reuters reported earlier this month.
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