BANGKOK -- A looming funding crisis facing Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh underlines the deepening aid shortages and growing unrest in the sprawling camps along the country's border with Myanmar.
United Nations officials have warned of a shortfall of more than 50% in the $876 million needed this year to provide basic food and shelter for nearly 1 million refugees living in one of the world's largest refugee settlements. In a sign of the widening funding gap, the World Food Program in February announced a 17% cut in refugee rations for camp dwellers to $10 a month from $12 per person and issued an emergency appeal for $125 million to help make up the shortfall. Japan recently pledged $1 million in response, but as one WFP official said, "The overall silence has been roaring."
