A humanitarian organization that has been feeding more than 100,000 refugees from Myanmar in western Thailand says it only has enough funds left to provide food for one month as the U.S. government’s international aid freeze bites.
In January, the Trump administration ordered a 90-day freeze on almost all the global aid it has provided for several decades. This affects millions of people worldwide, especially in conflict areas in developing countries where the U.S. is the the largest single donor.
The Border Consortium (TBC), an aid agency in charge of food and cooking fuel in nine refugee camps on the Thai border, said the U.S. government has not released any money since the aid freeze.
“TBC managed to secure funds for being able to provide food until the end of March and has charcoal stocks in each camp until the rainy season,” the consortium’s executive director Leon de Riedmatten told The Irrawaddy.
TBC said the cost for food and cooking fuel is around USD 1.3 million per month, and the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration is its sole donor.
TBC has been the main provider of food, shelter, and other forms of support to the refugees in the camps since 1984.
“Nobody knows what could happen if there are no more funds at the end of March, but TBC is working hard to find other financial resources,” de Riedmatten added.
As part of the solution, he urged the Thai government to think of beginning an integration process, starting with allowing residents to work outside the camps.
While TBC is in limbo, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds clinics at the camps with U.S. support, said the State Department now permits the committee to carry out “some but not all services.”
Last month, the committee received a 90-day suspension order starting from Jan. 24, halting all U.S. government funding assistance that IRC provides to seven camps on the border.
In an email to a refugee committee seen by The Irrawaddy, IRC’s Thailand director Darren Hertz said on Feb. 19 that the committee will be able to carry out some healthcare services—including primary healthcare and providing medical supplies— to refugees in seven camps during the period.
But others like referrals to Thai hospitals, family planning, and mental healthcare must stop, he added.
Hertz wrote IRC understands the U.S. government will decide whether to continue funding the healthcare services or not at the end of the three-month suspension.
“We don’t know when this decision will be communicated to us,” he added.
