The UK government announced £27m in fresh humanitarian funding to support more than 500,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh amid a warning the crisis was nearing collapse due to dwindling aid.
The package was unveiled earlier this week by foreign secretary Yvette Cooper ahead of a key UN conference on Myanmar and the plight of the war-torn country’s minority groups like the Rohingya.
The funding will go towards providing food, shelter, water, and healthcare to people displaced by the conflict in Myanmar. It will also fund sexual and reproductive health services for 175,000 women and girls as well as specialised support for survivors of sexual, physical and mental harm, the Foreign Office said in a statement.
“This new UK aid will deliver essential food, shelter, clean water, and other life-saving services to half a million Rohingya people in Bangladesh and also help support Bangladeshi host communities,” Ms Cooper said.
“The UK will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that those displaced by violence have the support, protection, dignity, and opportunities they deserve.”
The Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar – home to nearly one million people fleeing persecution in Myanmar since 2017 – faced severe funding shortfalls in 2024 and 2025, particularly after US president Donald Trump abruptly halted foreign aid and dismantled the US Agency for International Development.
The funding cuts by the US and fellow Western nations led to the closure of schools as well as a reduction in food rations and healthcare services, according to the UN.
The Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority group, began fleeing their home state of Rakhine in 2017 after Buddhist militias, allegedly backed by Myanmar’s military, unleashed a wave of violence against them.
The situation deteriorated after the military took power in a 2021 coup and escalated fighting against the Arakan Army, an ethnic militia drawn largely from the Buddhist majority in Rakhine, triggering an exodus of another 150,000 people to Bangladesh.
On 26 September, Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus told the UN General Assembly that the Rohingya refugee crisis was on the brink of collapse as international aid was drying up, urging immediate global action to prevent “a catastrophic situation”.
“The ongoing conflict in our neighbouring country threatens not only regional stability but also the prospects for the safe return of the forcibly displaced Rohingya sheltered in Bangladesh,” Mr Yunus, who took power after mass protests toppled Sheikh Hasina, said.
He warned that funding cuts would soon slash food support to “a paltry $6 per person”, deepening hunger and insecurity in the camps.
“I call upon existing donors to come forward with enhanced contribution and potential donors to make announcements of generous contribution to prevent this catastrophic situation,” he said.
The new UK aid package includes £6m each for camp management and food, £4.2m for water and sanitation, and £1.5m for health services, according to the Foreign Office.
The UK government said the initiative reflected its ongoing leadership in global humanitarian response as well as commitment to addressing the root causes of displacement in Myanmar, where access to humanitarian aid was severely restricted.
The latest commitment brings Britain’s total aid for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh since 2017 to more than £447m.
This article was produced as part of The Independent’s Rethinking Global Aid project.
