3/25/25, 4:53 PM As ration cuts loom, Rohingya families in the world’s largest refugee settlement say they’ll be forced to send children away on dangerous journeys… Those attempting sea journeys are often at the mercy of human traffickers and at risk of abuse at sea. Traffickers and smugglers often use rickety wooden boats to try and reach neighbouring countries, such as Malaysia, usually during the calmer seas from October to April. One of the factors driving Rohingya people onto boats has been the deteriorating security in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar , including kidnappings for ransom, abductions and the recruitment of children by Rohingya armed groups in Bangladesh. Large-scale fires, flooding and landslides inside the camps also put people at risk. Sufiya, 46, who is sick and depends on humanitarian aid like most people in the camps as Rohingya refugees are not allowed to work, said food security is one way to ensure more peace in the camps: "If there is peace in the stomach, then the world will also be at peace.” Save the Children has been working in Cox’s Bazar since 2012 and increased activities significantly following the 2017 exodus of refugees to Bangladesh with programmes in education, health and nutrition, food, water, shelter and child protection services. But underfunding has severely hampered humanitarian efforts to support refugees and hosts in Bangladesh. Shumon Sengupta, Country Director, Save the Children in Bangladesh: “We urge donors and the public to step up funding to the Rohingya refugee response now so that we can prevent a hunger crisis that could push more families to send their children away on dangerous boat journeys. Without sustained financial backing, a broader humanitarian crisis may be around the corner. This puts half a million Rohingya children and their families at risk.” Save the Children is one of the leading international NGOs working in the Cox’s Bazar camps in Bangladesh, providing child protection, access to learning, health and nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene services, and distribution of shelter and food items. We have reached about 600,000 Rohingya refugees, including more than 320,000 children, since the response began in 2017. REFERENCES [1] UNHCR: https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/myanmar#powerbi [2] Geneva Palais briefing note: Malnutrition tightening its grip on children in Rohingya refugee Camps [3] Save the Children: Children make up nearly half of Rohingya refugees taking perilous boat journeys in 2024 as numbers continue to rise For further media enquiries please contact: Amy Sawitta Lefevre: amy.lefevre@savethechildren.org https://reliefweb.int/report/bangladesh/ration-cuts-loom-rohingya-families-worlds-largest-refugee-settlement-say-theyll-be-forced-send-children-away-dangerous-jour… 2/5