UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was headed to Bangladesh Thursday for a four-day visit that will see him meet with Rohingya refugees threatened by looming humanitarian aid cuts.
Around a million members of the persecuted and mostly Muslim minority live in squalid relief camps in Bangladesh, most of whom arrived after fleeing the 2017 military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar.
Successive aid cuts have already caused severe hardship among Rohingya in the overcrowded settlements, where many rely on aid and suffer from rampant malnutrition.
Guterres is slated to visit one of the largest relief camps on Friday for an evening fast-breaking meal during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
“The Bangladeshi government believes this visit will bring the Rohingya crisis back to the forefront of global discussions,” government spokesman Shafiqul Alam told reporters Wednesday.
Severe aid funding shortfalls would require a cut in monthly food vouchers from $12.50 to $6.00 per person, the UN World Food Programme announced earlier this month.
Youngsters in the camps are already experiencing the worst levels of malnutrition since 2017, with admissions for severe malnutrition treatment up 27 percent in February compared with the same month in 2024, the UN children’s agency UNICEF said.
Securing additional aid
US President Donald Trump imposed a freeze on foreign aid in January pending a review, with a knock-on effect in the Rohingya camps.
UNICEF’s representative in Bangladesh Rana Flowers told reporters this week that cancelled US grants for Bangladesh accounted for around a quarter of her agency’s Rohingya refugee response costs.
Bangladesh’s government said it was exploring ways to secure additional humanitarian aid for the Rohingya refugees.
“Our government does not want to compromise on the nutritional needs of the Rohingyas in any way,” Alam said. “But international support is essential.”
More than 100,000 refugees are expected to participate in Friday evening’s fast-breaking meal with Guterres, the Bangladeshi government said.
Guterres is also scheduled to meet with de facto Bangladeshi leader and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who took charge last year after a student-led uprising toppled autocratic ex-premier Sheikh Hasina in August.
A report by the UN’s rights office last month found Hasina’s government was behind systematic attacks and killings of demonstrators as it tried to hold onto power.
More than 800 people died during the weeks of protests that ultimately toppled Hasina after 15 years of iron-fisted rule.
Bangladesh has since sought her extradition from neighbouring India to stand trial for alleged crimes against humanity.
