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Visiting United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres on Friday urged the international community to step up support for Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh.

The UN chief, in his remarks to the press after visiting a Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar in the afternoon, also warned of a ‘deep humanitarian crisis’ following cuts in assistance for the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals.

‘The entire refugee population depends on humanitarian aid. I repeat: Cox’s Bazar is ground zero for the impact of budget cuts on people in desperate need,’ the UN secretary general said.

‘We are on the verge of a deep humanitarian crisis. With the announced cuts in financial assistance, we are facing the dramatic risk of having only 40 per cent in 2025 of the resources available for humanitarian aid in 2024,’ Guterres said.

The UN has already decided to halve its per person monthly allocations for food for Rohingyas in Bangladesh from $12.50 to $6, effective from April 1, which is likely to intensify food crisis in the Rohingya camps.

Earlier in the morning, during a meeting with chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus at his Tejgaon office in Dhaka, the UN chief also voiced concern about declining humanitarian aid for Rohingyas living in the Bangladesh camps, a press release issued by the chief adviser’s press wing said.

‘I’ve never seen a population so discriminated against. The international community is forgetting the Rohingyas,’ the UN secretary general said as he voiced his deep concern over declining humanitarian aid for the 1.2 million Rohingyas living in Cox’s Bazar camps.

‘(Aid) cuts are a crime,’ he said, adding that Western nations were now doubling up on defense spending while humanitarian aid is squeezed across the globe, according to the release.

Guterres said that he was here to express solidarity with Myanmar’s forcibly displaced Rohingya people during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the press release said.

While talking to the press in Cox’s Bazar, the UN chief said that with limited prospects—violence, crime, and other security issues would naturally rise.

He, however, said that these people wanted to go to their homeland Myanmar and returning in a safe, voluntary, and dignified manner was the primary solution to this crisis. 

‘But the situation in Myanmar remains dire, including in Rakhine state. Until the conflict and systematic persecution in Rakhine end, we must support those who need protection,’ he said in a written statement.

‘That would be an unmitigated disaster. People will suffer and people will die,’ the UN secretary general expressed fear, saying that some Rohingya families feel they have no option but to risk everything on perilous sea journeys.

‘My message to all parties in Myanmar is clear: exercise maximum restraint, prioritise the protection of civilians in accordance with international humanitarian law, and prevent further incitement of communal tension and violence – paving the way for democracy to take root,’ Guterres said.

Chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus along with Antonio Guterres visited a Rohingya camp at Ukhiya where the UN secretary general joined the ‘Ramadan Solidarity Iftar’, hosted by the chief adviser, with the Rohingya community.

‘I met and spoke with many today – and was inspired by their courage and moved by their determination. Many shared harrowing accounts of their ordeals in Myanmar and their journeys here. They want to go home -- Myanmar is their homeland,’ Guterres said.

The UN secretary general arrived in Dhaka Thursday afternoon on a four-day visit to Bangladesh. He last visited Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camp in 2018 just a year after the massive outflow of Rohingyas following the massacres in Rakhine state.

During the meeting with the UN chief in Dhaka, Yunus sought the support of the secretary general for the dignified return of the Rohingyas to their homeland in Myanmar and in the meantime mobilising adequate food and humanitarian assistance for the Rohingyas, the press release issued by the chief adviser’s press wing said.

The UN secretary general said that he would do his best to resolve the Rohingya crisis and would try to mobilise support for them, giving priority to the Rohingyas.

Foreign adviser Md Touhid Hossain, high representative to chief adviser on Rohingya issue and priority matters Khalilur Rahman and senior secretary Lamiya Morshed were present during the meeting, also attended by UN under-secretary general Rabab Fatima and UN resident coordinator to Bangladesh Gwyn Lewis.

Over 15 per cent of Rohingya children in the Cox’s Bazar camps are now malnourished—the highest level recorded since the mass displacement of Rohingyas in 2017, according to UNICEF.

‘Now, the crisis is deepening. In January 2025, cases of severe acute malnutrition rose by 25 per cent compared to the same month last year (from 819 cases to 1,021 cases). February saw an even sharper increase of 27 per cent (836 cases to 1,062 cases), marking a dangerous upward trend,’ said UNICEF Bangladesh in a release issued from Dhaka on March 11.

The government continues efforts to send back Rohingyas to their homeland Myanmar without any progress, with the number of displaced people sheltered in Bangladesh camps increasing every year.

The number of Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh camps is increasing with an average new births of 30,000 every year, according to the government data.