“When I was in need, the New Zealand government told me that I was not welcome (…) I felt betrayed”. Unable to travel to her country to give birth, due to its draconian regulations in the face of Covid-19, uA pregnant New Zealand journalist was finally welcomed to Afghanistan by the Taliban. Charlotte Bellis recounted her misadventure on Sunday, January 30, during an interview with Radio New Zealand, from Kabul, where she joined her companion, a Belgian photographer living in this country plagued by an authoritarian regime that flouts women’s rights and plunged the population into a deep humanitarian crisis.
In an open letter published by the New Zealand Herald, the journalist, who worked for the Al-Jazeera channel in Afghanistan, detailed her Kafkaesque situation. After asking the Taliban, as part of her job, what they would do to guarantee the rights of women and girls, Charlotte Bellis judged “ironic” to ask the same question of his own government.
It was on returning to Doha, where her employer’s headquarters are located, that Charlotte Bellis realized that she was expecting a child. As it is illegal in Qatar to be pregnant outside of marriage, she kept her pregnancy a secret while preparing for her return to New Zealand. However, this country, which closed its borders in March 2020 due to the pandemic, is only allowing its own nationals to return in dribs and drabs.
When the journalist learned that she could not benefit from any derogation to return, she called senior Taliban officials. The latter then offered her to come and give birth in their country, where her spouse is based. “We are happy for you, you can come and you will have no problem”, assured her the Taliban, she said. “When I was in need, the New Zealand government told me I was not welcome,” lamented the journalist. “When the Taliban offer – to a single, pregnant woman – asylum, you know you are in a difficult situation.”
After going public with the problems she was having and seeking the help of lawyers, the New Zealander was contacted by authorities in her country who told her that her claim would be reconsidered. Chris Hipkins, New Zealand’s Covid-19 Minister, said in a statement that he had asked officials to check whether all procedures had been followed correctly.