Bangladesh: Humanitarians describe ‘extreme desperation’ as aid cuts deepen Rohingya children’s suffering

In Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar refugee settlements, child malnutrition has surged and cuts in aid funding risk creating a humanitarian “catastrophe”, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday.

“Children in the world's largest refugee camp are experiencing the worst levels of malnutrition since the massive displacement that occurred in 2017,” Rana Flowers, UNICEF representative in Bangladesh, told journalists in Geneva, almost eight years since hundreds of thousands of ethnic Rohingya fled widespread military attacks in Myanmar.

Speaking from Dhaka, Ms. Flowers said that last month in the camps in Cox’s Bazar, admissions for severe acute malnutrition surged by over 27 per cent compared to February 2024, with more than 38 children under five admitted for emergency care every day.

“Unless additional resources are secured, only half of the children in need will have access to treatment this year, and that's going to leave about 7,000 children at risk, with the expectation of a rise in morbidity and mortality,” Ms. Flowers said. “That’s babies dying.”

Bangladesh hosts more than one million stateless Rohingya driven from their homes in neighbouring Myanmar over the course of several years following the brutal military crackdown in 2017. Some 500,000 Rohingya refugee children live in the camps of Cox's Bazar.

The UNICEF representative highlighted several “compounding crises” that are driving the surge in malnutrition. Among them was last year’s unusually long monsoon season, which exacerbated the unsanitary conditions in the camps, bringing on severe diarrhoea in children and outbreaks of cholera and dengue. Violence over the border in Myanmar triggered more displacement while food rations dwindled.

Now, the global aid funding crisis has refugee families on the brink of “extreme desperation”.

“Food rations have reached a critical point,” Ms. Flowers said. “According to the World Food Programme, without immediate funding, rations could soon be reduced to less than half just $6 a month, an amount that falls drastically short of basic nutritional needs.”

She stressed that pregnant and breastfeeding mothers along with their infants would be among the most vulnerable.

The UNICEF representative insisted that these families “cannot yet safely return home” to Myanmar. Just 10 days ago in a briefing to the UN Human Rights Council, High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said that the country is mired in one of the world’s worst human rights crises. He denounced the Myanmar military’s “campaign of terrorizing the population through acts of extreme brutality”.

The Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh also have no legal right to work, Ms. Flowers said, which makes them reliant on aid.

“The sustained humanitarian support, it's not optional. It is essential,” she insisted.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is set to travel to Bangladesh later this week and meet with Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, as part of his annual Ramadan solidarity visit.

Asked about the impact of major cuts in aid funding from the United States, Ms. Flowers said that following the announcement of a U.S. foreign assistance freeze earlier this year, UNICEF received a humanitarian waiver for its nutrition programme.

“That may allow us to use the ready-to-use therapeutic food to treat and cure the very sick children with severe acute malnutrition. But we need both waiver and the actual funding to maintain this work,” Ms. Flowers said.

She stressed that funding for the agency’s detection and treatment services for child malnutrition will run out in June 2025.

The US State Department announced on Monday that some 80 per cent of the US Agency for International Development's (USAID) programmes would be ending.

Ms. Flowers added that “other US grants for Bangladesh have been terminated”, representing about a quarter of UNICEF’s Rohingya refugee response costs.

Without the funding, “services for these children will be significantly scaled back, putting their survival, safety and futures at risk”, she said.

Parts of the humanitarian response that are in jeopardy include safe water and sanitation services, which “will deteriorate, increasing the risk of deadly disease outbreaks with flow-on effects for the public health security,” Ms. Flowers warned. Health access will shrink, “clinics will close and immunizations will be disrupted”, she said.

“Education will be cut off, leaving hundreds of thousands without learning opportunities. And that's without hope,” she concluded.

-Ends -

STORY: Rohingya Cox’s Bazar update – UNICEF 11 March 2025

TRT: 3:06”

SOURCE: UNTV CH

RESTRICTIONS: NONE

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS

ASPECT RATIO: 16:9

DATELINE: 11 MARCH 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1. Exterior wide shot: Palais des Nations, Flag Alley.

2. Wide shot: Speaker at the podium of the press conference from rear; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Rana Flowers, Representative in Bangladesh, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “Children in the world's largest refugee camp are experiencing the worst levels of malnutrition since the massive displacement that occurred in 2017. In February this year, admissions for severe acute malnutrition surged by over 27 per cent compared to the same month last year.”

4. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Rana Flowers, Representative in Bangladesh, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “Unless additional resources are secured, only half of the children in need will have access to treatment this year, and that's going to leave about 7,000 children at risk, with the expectation of a rise in morbidity and mortality. That’s babies dying.”

6. Wide shot: Speaker at the podium of the press conference from rear; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Rana Flowers, Representative in Bangladesh, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “Food rations have reached a critical point. According to the World Food Programme, without immediate funding, rations could soon be reduced to less than half – just $6 a month, an amount that falls drastically short of basic nutritional needs. Pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, along with their infants, would be among the most vulnerable to the consequences.”

8. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Rana Flowers, Representative in Bangladesh, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “These families cannot yet safely return home. They have no legal right to work. So, the sustained humanitarian support, it's not optional. It is essential.”

10. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Rana Flowers, Representative in Bangladesh, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “UNICEF has received a humanitarian waiver for our nutrition programme. Now, that may allow us to use the ready-to-use therapeutic food to treat and cure the very sick children with severe acute malnutrition. But we need both waiver and the actual funding to maintain this work. And the programme that we have for the skilled, trained capacity that detects and treat sick children, it will run out of resources in June 2025.”

12. Wide shot: Speaker at the podium of the press conference from rear; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

13. SOUNDBITE (English) – Rana Flowers, Representative in Bangladesh, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “Other U.S. grants for Bangladesh have been terminated. The funds lost are equivalent to about a quarter of our Rohingya refugee response costs, as they were in 2024. And without that alternative funding, services for these children will be significantly scaled back, putting their survival, safety and futures at risk.”

14. Wide shot: Speaker at the podium of the press conference from rear; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

15. SOUNDBITE (English) – Rana Flowers, Representative in Bangladesh, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): “We're looking at safe water and sanitation services. They will deteriorate, increasing the risk of deadly disease outbreaks with flow-on effects for the public health security. Health access – it's going to shrink. Clinics will close and immunizations will be disrupted. Education will be cut off, leaving hundreds of thousands without learning opportunities. And that's without hope.”

16. Various shots of speakers and journalists in the Press room.