people from Myanmar, particularly IDPs and refugees in border areas. Mobile health teams and other services for vulnerable IDPs in western Myanmar’s remote Chin State ground to a halt. Similarly, humanitarian assistance for IDPs hiding deep in the jungle in eastern Karenni State was cut off, virtually overnight.15 The full extent of the harm caused by the order may take years to ascertain. However, the fact that it resulted in preventable deaths is irrefutable. 30-year-old Wah K’Ler Paw died of renal failure in a refugee camp on the Thai-Myanmar border on 16 February, after the US-funded International Rescue Committee (IRC) was forced to withdraw financial support for her dialysis treatment due to the ‘stop work’ order from the Trump administration.16 Wah K’Ler Paw’s case is not unique; other deaths were reported as a result of IRC having to close its clinics and hospitals in the Thai refugee camps. 17 Impact of aid cuts on the Rohingya On 26 February, the Trump administration terminated more than 90 percent of the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID) foreign aid contracts and began to dismantle USAID. The US is by far the world’s largest donor and the ramifications are wide-ranging.18 The US has been the largest provider of aid to Rohingya refugees, contributing approximately half of all humanitarian aid to the camps in Bangladesh.19 Almost every type of service in the camps has been hit hard by the stopwork orders and cuts, including healthcare provision. Around 48 health facilities, including 11 primary care centres, are reported to have been affected by aid cuts according to the IRC.20 Many Rohingya refugees have been left without access to life-saving healthcare services. In February 21-year-old mother Nur told the New Humanitarian, “I have a newborn baby, only four months old. I went to the nearby hospitals, but they said their services are closed now.”21 Hospitals such as the International Red Cross hospital in Cox’s Bazar are reduced to providing emergency assistance only. By 5 March, WFP warned that it would have to cut monthly food rations to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh from $12.50 to $6 the following month, unless additional funding could be found.22 Already 40 percent of children in the camps are stunted due to malnutrition. Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) challenged international donors, asking, “Will the international community, which refused to act to prevent genocide, now let starvation finish the genocide the Burmese military started?”23 15 The New Humanitarian, ‘Trump stop-work orders hit local aid and frontline communities’ (31 January 2025) available at <https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2025/01/31/trump-stop-work-orders-hit-local-aid-and-frontline-communities> accessed 15 May 2025. 16 Bangkok Post, ‘US aid halt can be deadly for some’ (14 March 2025) available at <https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2979613/us-aid-halt-can-be-deadly-for-some> accessed 15 May 2025. 17 The Telegraph, ‘US aid freeze claims first victims as oxygen supplies cut off’ (11 February 2025) available at <https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/climate-and-people/us-aid-freeze-claims-first-victims-as-oxygen-supplies-cut/> accessed 15 May 2025. 18 AP, ‘Trump’s permanent USAID cuts slam humanitarian programs worldwide: ‘We are being pushed off a cliff’’, available at <https://apnews.com/article/trump-usaid-aid-cut-doge-musk-dbaf0e89d72938caabee8251f7dfb4a7> accessed 15 May 2025. 19 The New Humanitarian, ‘For Myanmar’s war victims and Rohingya refugees, US aid cuts are disastrous’ (27 February 2025) available at <https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2025/02/27/myanmar-war-victims-rohingyarefugees-us-aid-cuts> accessed 15 May 2025. 20 The Diplomat, ‘How US Aid Cuts Are Putting Millions of Lives at Risk’ (2 May 2025) available at <https://thediplomat.com/2025/05/how-us-aid-cuts-are-putting-millions-of-lives-at-risk/> accessed 15 May 2025. 21 The New Humanitarian (27 February 2025) op. cit. 22 Reuters, ‘Exclusive: UN plans to halve rations to Rohingya refugees without urgent funding’ (5 March 2025) available at <https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/un-slash-rations-rohingya-refugees-by-half-6-per-month-official-says-2025-0305/> accessed 15 March 2025. 23 BROUK, ‘Rohingya Rations Cuts Will Mean Refugees on Brink of Starvation’ (5 March 2025) available at <https://brouk.org.uk/rohingya-rations-cuts-will-mean-refugees-on-brink-of-starvation/> accessed 15 May 2025. 6