UNHCR says nearly 8.3 million refugees and displaced people risk losing vital assistance. It needs $8.5 billion this year but had received only 32 percent of that by the end of July. The United States, traditionally the top donor, has heavily cut foreign aid, and other major donors are also tightening budgets.
The $710 Million Rohingya Response
According to an explainer by Concern Worldwide US, the UN has warned that even the most critical needs in Cox’s Bazar will go unmet if the $710.5 million required for 2026 is not raised. About 1.2 million Rohingya live in Cox’s Bazar, and 95 percent of families depend on humanitarian aid. Around 35 percent face crisis levels of hunger or worse, up from 30 percent a year earlier.
Rohingya Children Bear the Heaviest Burden
Children make up 52 percent of the Rohingya population in Cox’s Bazar. UNHCR figures cited in the same explainer say about 624,000 of them need humanitarian assistance. Last year’s funding cuts shut more than 6,400 learning centres. UNHCR has also said health clinics have closed, and about 150,000 new arrivals have reached Bangladesh since 2024. A recent IPS report from Cox’s Bazar (28 September 2026) says cuts to UN food rations are spreading hunger and forcing families to cut back on schooling and healthcare for their children.
UAE Support for Rohingya Children
The UAE has helped Rohingya families before. In 2018 it donated Dh7.35 million to a UNHCR nutrition programme in Bangladesh. At the time, one in five Rohingya children in Bangladesh had acute malnutrition. During the crisis’s early years, a UAE national campaign called “From the UAE for Rohingya Children and Women” raised more than Dh40 million in its first two days. It aimed to provide food, medical help, clean water, education and housing.
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Gulf Funding Beyond the Rohingya Response
The UAE’s recent UNHCR support has gone mainly to Sudan. It allocated $15 million at the pledging conference for UNHCR’s 2026 Global Appeal, after giving $20 million in 2024. UAE officials have called for predictable funding and fair burden-sharing among donors. UNHCR has worked in the UAE since 1986 and has partnerships with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education and Sheikha Jawaher Al Qasimi, UNHCR’s Eminent Advocate.
Why Predictable Aid Matters
UNHCR says the share of its funding tied to specific projects has risen from 19 percent to 51 percent. That limits how quickly it can move money to the most urgent needs. Flexible funding from Gulf donors could help keep food, health care and learning centres open for children. Even so, a single donor cannot close a gap of this size, and UNHCR’s global shortfall alone is $5.789 billion.
