Rohingya refugees living in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh said Thursday they are struggling to survive after the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) cut food rations due to a major funding shortfall.

With a shortfall of $125 million caused by the drop in donations, the World Food Program announced that the value of monthly food assistance per person would be reduced from $12 to $10 in March, warning that a further reduction could be "imminent" if an immediate financial contribution was not secured.

On Thursday, the United Nations criticized the cut in food aid for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, describing the decision as "shameful and catastrophic".

This came in a statement issued by the United Nations, in which it quoted statements by its Special Rapporteur, Tom Andrews, who is investigating human rights violations in Myanmar.

Andrews criticized the World Food Program's decision to cut food aid for the Rohingya refugees, which he said was "due to a lack of funding," saying that "the reduction in aid is a stain on the conscience of the international community."

And he sent a letter to member states in which he explained that the World Food Program announced that it had made a series of cuts in food supplies for Rohingya refugees, and that these cuts could exceed 30% of current aid.

A Rohingya refugee waits to receive aid in a camp in Bangladesh (Getty Images)

Malnutrition

The cut in food aid has made life even more difficult for Rohingya refugees, one million of whom live in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh, dependent on aid and already suffering from malnutrition.

"We have no income and our food rations have been reduced," said Rahila Begum, 40, whose son suffers from malnutrition.

And this refugee adds that her son "does not eat rice or any other food, only crushed nuts, and they have stopped providing them, and I do not know if he will survive."

This is the first time that food support has been reduced since about 750,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar in 2017 to Bangladesh to escape the massacres committed by the Myanmar army against this Muslim minority.

The International Court of Justice is investigating whether these persecutions amount to "genocide".

Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, spoke with refugee families in the camps who have to cut their rations of basic foodstuffs.

"Reducing food aid is a matter of life and death for Rohingya families," he said, adding that the situation "heavily weighs on the conscience of the international community."

Andrews noted that malnutrition, anemia and stunted growth are all common in the camps.