UN chief heads to Bangladesh for Rohingya solidarity visit

Kathmandu: 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.

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