Injustice to Vulnerable Rohingya Refugees

 

WFP Injustice to Vulnerable Rohingya Refugees

A photo essay on the Targeting and Prioritization Exercise, and why families on $7 a head must be allowed to choose what they eat.

Photographs: Abdullah Bawshore / Rohingya documentary photographer

Children sit in a ring on a concrete floor, eating plates of plain rice beside a cooking fire. For many families in the camps, rice is now almost the whole meal.

A ration decided by category

As we all know, WFP, the World Food Programme, introduced a needs-based food approach, the so-called Targeting and Prioritization Exercise (TPE), in April 2026. It works like this: food-insecure families receive $7 per head; highly food-insecure families, $10 per head; and extremely food-insecure families, $12 per head.

This has badly affected the Rohingya refugees living in the camps in Bangladesh. There has been a great deal of controversy around the categorization itself, and many people have complained about it, but nothing has changed.

A barefoot boy stands against a weathered WFP shipping container. The agency’s name is painted large; the families it serves have little say in how their ration is spent.

Refugees cannot legally work

To be clear, Rohingya refugees are not legally entitled to work in Bangladesh. So how can anyone assume that every individual aged 18 and above is working and earning money?

It is true that a few community members volunteer in the NGO and INGO sectors, and some daily labourers work for very low wages. That does not mean every individual listed on a family attestation card is working and supporting the rest of the family.

Elderly men sit under a bamboo-and-tarpaulin shelter beside a small snack stall. Being over 18 does not mean having an income.

Students and new arrivals carry extra costs

Many students over 18, in both community-based schools and the Arabic education sector, still depend on regular financial support from their families — and those families are being counted as if these young people were earning.

Many new arrivals are still living in rented shelters outside the camps. They must pay monthly rent without a job or any source of income, along with private tuition fees for their children and many other expenses. They are badly affected as well.

A woman shades her eyes against a patched black tarpaulin, holding a USAID water container. Sandbags line the base of the shelter wall.

“It’s WFP rice”

I could give many realistic examples of how Rohingya refugees are being affected by the TPE. But most importantly, affected families should have a choice about what they buy with only $7. They could, for example, take less rice and some other groceries just to survive the month — not to live the comfortable life enjoyed by WFP and other NGO/INGO staff.

From my own experience as of last Sunday, the WFP food distribution points serving Camps 11, 12 and 18 are not allowing beneficiaries to take less rice. The reason given: it is WFP rice now, not Korean rice. Before, when the rice was Korean, families could take less. Now they cannot, because this rice belongs to WFP. What the hell is this?

An elderly woman passes a bowl across a meagre meal under a stained tarpaulin roof, as two older relatives look on.

How does WFP think a Rohingya family can survive on only rice and oil? How are they supposed to buy other groceries for the rest of the month?

A mother serves her children on the floor of a bamboo shelter. Most of the plates hold rice, with little else.

The right to choose

Rohingya families, especially those receiving $7 per head, should have the right to choose what they buy and what they do not. They should be able:

  • To buy from their own list, not just rice and oil.
  • To buy less rice and more groceries.
  • To decide for themselves how to make a small ration last a month.
Inside a tent, a woman holds an envelope marked “Support for fire victims – 2000TK” while her children eat. An empty aid sack lies on the floor beside them.

Survival should not depend on a label. Give families the dignity of choice.

#Rohingya

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