The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
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.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , OHCHR , UNFPA , UNOG , UNHCR , WHO
Yemen’s humanitarian crisis growing by the hour amid spike in displacement
Yemenis displaced by renewed fighting have described fleeing for their lives amid shelling and gunfire, aid agencies reported on Friday, while highlighting the dramatic increase in humanitarian needs in the country and in Djibouti, where thousands have sought shelter.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office issued on Friday a report documenting a shocking pattern of sexual violence amid Russia’s full-scale armed attack on Ukraine.
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | WMO
As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
ends
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
The deadly Ebola virus outbreak in DR Congo continues to spread across the vast country despite some success in containing it, aid officials said on Tuesday, in a renewed call for international support to help responders on the ground.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | WFP
‘Super El Niño’ and converging crises worsen hunger in South Sudan and across the region - WFP
South Sudan’s hunger crisis is becoming increasingly catastrophic as violence, extreme weather and dwindling aid leave millions without enough food, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
In war-torn Gaza, a growing number of women-headed households face “impossible decisions” every day, amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes and still-scarce resources, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk made the following remarks to the Enhanced Interactive Dialogue on the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar at the 63rd Human Rights Council.
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk today delivered an update on the global human rights situation to the 63rdsession of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Repeated attacks on humanitarian warehouses put vital medical aid at risk in Ukraine - WHO
A new airstrike overnight damaged one of the main warehouses used by the UN health agency to store humanitarian medical supplies in the Kyiv region, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. This is the third attack to affect a WHO-used storage in the last three months.
2
2
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | WMO
Powerful El Niño heightens extreme-weather risks through 2027, as countries brace for impact - WMO
Fuelled by extraordinarily warm waters across the tropical Pacific Ocean, the El Niño climate pattern is expected to intensify in the coming months. Forecasters are almost certain that it will persist through February next year, with unusually warm conditions expected across the globe.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , IFRC , UN WOMEN , WHO
Nepal flood deaths near 1,000 as those spared struggle to survive – UN humanitarians
With the death toll in Nepal’s catastrophic flash floods inching towards 1,000, rescue workers are facing harsh conditions while survivors lack access to food, safe water and health care, humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNDRR , IFRC , WHO
Nepal: Flooding disaster “not over” as humanitarians work around the clock
While search and rescue efforts continued Friday following flash floods and mudslides in northern Nepal, UN humanitarians are taking stock of the devastation amid concerns over more flooding to come.