by Ro Maung Shwe
As the Muslim world welcomes the holy month of Ramadan with spiritual reflection and communal gatherings, more than 1.1 million Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, are observing the sacred month under the shadow of hunger, aid cuts, and prolonged uncertainty.
For families like that of 52 year old widow Hamida Khatun, Ramadan is no longer defined by abundance, charity, and community. It is defined by survival.
Living in the world’s largest refugee settlement, Hamida struggles each day to prepare suhoor and iftar for her eight children. Her story reflects the reality of thousands of vulnerable households confined to the camps.
From Self Reliance in Arakan to Aid Dependency
Before 2017, Hamida lived in northern Rakhine, Arakan, in Myanmar. Like most Rohingya families, she relied on small scale farming for survival.
“We did not need to buy vegetables or fruits,” she recalls. “We cultivated our land. Only fish, meat, and oil were purchased.”
That life ended during the brutal military operations carried out by the Myanmar Junta in 2016 and 2017. The violent campaign, widely documented by international human rights organizations, forced more than 740,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh in what has been described as ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Hamida, already widowed and raising six daughters and two sons alone, fled after enduring severe harassment and violence. She crossed into Bangladesh with nothing.
Nearly nine years later, there is still no safe and dignified pathway home.
Legal proceedings concerning the Rohingya genocide continue at the International Court of Justice, and investigations remain active at the International Criminal Court. Yet justice moves slowly, while refugees remain trapped in limbo.
Inside the camps, Rohingya refugees face no formal right to work, severely restricted movement, limited education opportunities, and total dependence on humanitarian assistance. What was meant to be temporary displacement has become protracted exile.
Shrinking Aid, Growing Hunger
In the early years of displacement, vulnerable families, including widows, orphans, elderly persons, and people with disabilities, received supplementary fresh food assistance from the World Food Programme.
Hamida remembers receiving eggs, chicken, fish, and vegetables in addition to dry rations.
“This year, I have not received any support,” she says. “Before, we had fresh food every month. Now it has completely stopped.”
Due to severe global funding shortages, food assistance has been reduced multiple times. Today, most families survive primarily on dry staples such as rice and lentils. Protein, fresh vegetables, and nutritious items have become rare luxuries.
For Ramadan, this reduction is devastating.
“Today I fasted after eating suhoor with dry fish and lentils,” Hamida says quietly. “I don’t know what I will manage tomorrow.”
Across the camps, children fast with minimal nutrition. Mothers skip meals to feed their families. Iftar often consists only of rice and thin lentil soup. Dates, fruit, milk, and protein are unaffordable for many.
While parts of the Muslim world spend millions daily on luxury Ramadan buffets and extravagant iftar gatherings where food waste is common, stateless Rohingya refugees struggle to secure even the simplest meal. The contrast is not only economic. It is moral.
A Crisis of Dignity
The Rohingya crisis is no longer front page news. Yet for refugees, the emergency continues every single day.
Prolonged displacement has deepened poverty, increased malnutrition risks, heightened vulnerability among women and children, and created psychological trauma linked to hopelessness.
For widows like Hamida, support networks have weakened over time. Earlier assistance from diaspora relatives has declined, as Rohingya communities abroad also face legal restrictions, economic hardship, and insecurity.
“We are forgotten,” she says.
Ramadan teaches that fasting is obligatory, but so too is caring for the vulnerable. Zakat and sadaqah are not symbolic. They are lifelines.
The Rohingya do not ask for luxury. They ask for adequate and nutritious food, sustainable livelihood opportunities, dignity in exile, and a safe and voluntary return home.
Humanitarian agencies urgently require increased funding to prevent further ration cuts. Muslim communities worldwide must recognize that millions of displaced Muslims, including Rohingya refugees, are struggling to manage even a simple suhoor and iftar.
As families gather around abundant tables this Ramadan, the question remains: who remembers those fasting in hunger?
Faith Amid Hardship
Despite the suffering, faith remains strong.
“Ramadan is a blessing from Allah,” Hamida says. “We fast because it is our duty.”
In the overcrowded camps of Cox’s Bazar, faith continues to sustain what food cannot.
But faith alone cannot fill empty plates.
Without urgent humanitarian intervention and renewed global solidarity, Ramadan for Rohingya refugees will continue to be defined not only by devotion, but by deprivation.
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