DHAKA: The United Nations food agency said on Monday lack of funding forced it to cut food aid for one million Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh for a second time in three months.

Rations would be cut from $10 per person per month to $8 from June 1, World Food Programme (WFP) spokesperson Kun Li told AFP in an email.

The full ration of $12 had already been cut in March.

“The reasons for the ration cuts are lack of funding. We need urgently $56 million to restore the full ration ($12),” Kun Li said.

There was no immediate reaction from Bangladeshi authorities. Aid groups said the cut in March caused hardship in the overcrowded camps, where malnutrition was already rampant.

‘Shameful’ action

Khin Maung, who heads the Rohingya Youth Association inside the camps, said the new food cut decision came as a surprise to the refugees and that it would lead to hunger. “It’s a shameful action by the United Nations,” he said.

“I think it is political. Some people have said it is a ploy to send Rohingyas back to Myanmar.”

Aid workers said the move could worsen security in the camps. UN and foreign diplomats have urged the Bangladeshi government to drop a ban preventing Rohingya from working outside the camps in the surrounding Cox’s Bazaar region.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2023