Humanitarian crisis in Bangladesh refugee camps reaches new level of horror

Children are starving at an alarming rate, facing the worst levels of malnutrition since the forced exodus of 2017. According to Rana Flowers, UNICEF representative in Bangladesh, hospitalizations for severe acute malnutrition have increased by 27% in just the past month. More than 38 children under the age of five require emergency care every day.

© Dar Yasin

The situation is rapidly deteriorating. "If no new resources are secured, half of the children in need of treatment will be left to die," warned Flowers. Estimates indicate that at least 7,000 children are at imminent risk of death from starvation.

Bangladesh hosts more than a million stateless Rohingyas, expelled from Myanmar after the brutal military crackdown of 2017. Of these, about 500,000 are children living in unsanitary conditions in the Cox’s Bazar camps. A prolonged monsoon last year worsened the crisis, spreading diseases like cholera and dengue, while food shortages reach critical levels.

The collapse of global humanitarian aid funding is pushing refugees into extreme despair. "Food rations have reached a critical point," Flowers warned. According to the World Food Programme, without new funding, rations could be cut by more than half, dropping to just $6 per month per person—an amount far below basic survival needs. Pregnant and lactating women are among the most vulnerable.

Returning to Myanmar is impossible. Just 10 days ago, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stated that the country remains engulfed in one of the worst human rights crises in the world, with the military carrying out a brutal campaign of terror against the population.

For refugees in Bangladesh, the situation is no less dire. Without labor rights, their survival depends entirely on international aid, which is drying up. "Sustained humanitarian support is not optional. It is a matter of life or death," Flowers stressed.

The crisis worsens with the freezing of U.S. funding. UNICEF has secured a humanitarian exemption to continue distributing therapeutic food to severely malnourished children, but without new financial transfers, emergency services will end by June 2025. The U.S. State Department announced that 80% of USAID programs are being shut down, drastically reducing the humanitarian response in the region.

Cuts to funding affect critical areas: clinics are closing, vaccinations have been halted, and access to clean water and sanitation is collapsing. "Without immediate action, deadly outbreaks will spread. This is a genocide by neglect," warned Flowers.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is expected to visit Bangladesh this week to meet with Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar as part of his Ramadan solidarity agenda. But visits do not feed children. And with each day of uncertainty, more lives are buried under the rubble of a world that has chosen to forget the Rohingyas.