A pregnant New Zealand journalist stranded in Afghanistan has ramped up her desperate fight to be allowed to return home to give birth.
Charlotte Bellis, who discovered she was pregnant in September and has tried several times to return home but was denied twice by Prime Minister Jacinda Adern due to the closed border.
Her third trimester was fast approaching so she applied for category 1A(i). This applies to Kiwis that require immediate access to critical medical treatment not readily available or unavailable at their current location.
On Sunday, Managed Isolation and Quarantine officers reviewed Ms Bellis’ application again. They advised her that more information was needed to make a final decision.
After insisting that she had provided all the information required, she requested justification as to why an exemption should be denied.
Currently 25 weeks pregnant, broadcast journalist Charlotte Bellis (pictured) hasn’t given up on her desperate fight to leave Kabul and return home to New Zealand
Charlotte Bellis, pictured here with Jim Huylebroek (Belgian photographer) hopes to return to New Zealand after the birth of her baby girl due in May
Ms Bellis wrote Monday, “I received a mail from a generic MIQ address proposing I apply through a different category in an emergency spot to travel to New Zealand to have a baby,”
A screenshot was shared by her of the email sent from the quarantine agency asking for more information in order to make sure that the process is fair and uniform.
In the email, she also indicated that her original application had been deactivated because the travel dates proposed weren’t in the fourteen-day window.
Ms Bellis stated that she selected travel dates beyond the window because of a shortage of flights from Kabul, and to give her time to appeal if rejected.
According to the email, Ms. Bellis applies under category 1A (iii), which covers citizens and residents who are in dangerous situations or locations and have no other option but to return home to New Zealand.
Ms Bellis will also need to confirm that New Zealand is her only choice.
Authorities have urged Charlotte Bellis (pictured) in an email to submit a new category. She would need to show that she is only going home.
Since then, she has replied to her email, saying that applying for the category suggested to authorities doesn’t ‘presently apply’ to her.
Ms Bellis said that “The reason for our return” is the continued need for urgent medical treatment, which is either unavailable or not accessible at this time.
You have all the information. We are aware of our current situation. You are aware of our situation.
Please explain why you are not appraising us as 1A(i).
Ms Bellis argued that applying outside 14-day travel window under category of 1A(i) was permitted under the MIQ guidelines and that they would have to provide more evidence on top of 59 documents already submitted if they did reapply.
She also cited MIQ boss Chris Bunny, who told the New Zealand Herald on Saturday that pregnant women can apply under category 1A(i).
Jacinda Adern (pictured) has impeded Charlotte Bellis attempts to go home prior to giving birth to her second child, in May.
While Prime Minister Ardern still has not commented on Ms Bellis’ plight, she is now in self-isolation following her declaration as a close friend of the Covid case. Her tests have been negative and she will be kept in isolation till Wednesday.
New Zealand recorded 91 locally acquired cases on Monday. Auckland saw more than half of the cases.
Bellis was overwhelmed with support online for her effort to return home.
“Please keep fighting for all those who don’t have your profile.” The MIQ system has many loopholes that allow the super wealthy to exploit the cruelties of its citizens. One commentator said, “You’re highlighting the absurdity, cruelty, and inhumanity of it all.”
One added, “Many people know of those who are being treated cruelly overseas but they don’t have any means to make it known.” We appreciate your kindness.
One suggested that Ms Bellis apply for the alternative category as recommended by quarantine agencies.
One wrote, “Please accept the olive branch they are trying to extend and take care of yourself and your baby by jumping through their amended hoops ASAP.”
“You are free to continue to point out the cruelty and absurdity of the rules after you have returned home.
Ms Bellis provided 59 documents to New Zealand authorities and answered many questions to try to get an emergency return to home.
“This just feels like such trust breach,” Ms Bellis said to Radio New Zealand in Kabul, Sunday.
She was denied several applications and decided to go to the Taliban. There, she could have a baby.
Bellis claimed that she was told by the Taliban, “We’re happy to see you”, and they said it despite their views on single mothers.
Charlotte Bellis says claiming applying under the category suggested by MIQ authorities does not’ presently apply to us’
Ms Bellis is open to the possibility of moving back home, where her partner was born.
The fate of this woman, who is remembered worldwide for questioning the records of the Jihadist Group on women’s right’s issues, was particularly harsh.
Bellis added insult to injury by warning that pregnancy could result in death under Taliban control Afghanistan due to the lack of surgical skills and poor maternity care.
In an effort to obtain an emergency return to Afghanistan, Ms Bellis, who is believed to have been pictured above, submitted 59 documents in Afghanistan to New Zealand officials. Each was rejected
‘To the NZ Government. I ask what you want me do. News1 reported that while she had done nothing wrong, she was pregnant. She also said that she is New Zealander.
“At what point have we become so ensconced in the rules that we come up with, that we don’t realize that she is a Kiwi in desperate need of help? She needs to go home.”
While Covid-19 spread in New Zealand has been restricted and only 52 deaths have been recorded since its inception, citizens are still required to stay in isolated hotels managed by the military for a minimum of 10 days.
The “zero-Covid” policy was repeatedly criticized. Now, thousands are desperate to return home because of the self-isolation restrictions.
Ms Bellis is now one of the most prominent Kiwis who has fallen to New Zealand’s strict border controls.
Charlotte Bellis (pictured), a journalist in New Zealand, is currently stranded and seeking help from the Taliban. This happens because Jacinda Adern’s Covid curbs have made it impossible for her to return home to New Zealand.
Ms Bellis claimed that since discovering she was pregnant, she had tried numerous times to go back to New Zealand.
On Saturday Ms Bellis wrote in The New Zealand Herald that it was “brutally ironic” that she once asked the Taliban how they treated women and now she is asking the same question of her government.
She said, “When Taliban offers you (a pregnant, unmarried women) safe harbor, it is obvious that your situation has gone terribly wrong.”
New Zealand has been closed to outsiders since March 2020.
Because of Omicron disease concerns in Australia and neighbouring countries, the government pulled back plans to a phased opening from February mid-January through February.
New Zealand reported 5,910 coronavirus confirmed cases and 52 deaths in its five-million population.
There have been many stories of people stranded in dangerous circumstances abroad, which has embarrassed Ms Ardern’s government. Ms Bellis’ situation however is especially striking.
Bellis, who was covering the withdrawal American troops in Afghanistan last year for Al Jazeera, gained attention when she questioned Taliban leaders regarding their treatment of female soldiers.
On Saturday she wrote that after returning to Qatar in September, she discovered she was going to have a baby together with Jim Huylebroek, a freelance photographer and a contributing writer to The New York Times.
Following being told that she would not be able to have children by her doctors, she called the pregnancy a miracle. In May, she will give birth to a baby girl.
Qatar is against premarital sex and Ms Bellis claimed she realized that she was required to leave.
She tried repeatedly to return to New Zealand using a lottery system, but with no success.
She stated that she had resigned in November from Al Jazeera and moved with her husband to Belgium. But she couldn’t stay too long since she wasn’t an resident.
In the New Zealand Herald, Ms Bellis (right), wrote that, while she once inquired about the Taliban’s treatment of women, now she is asking the same question of her government
Afghanistan was the other country that they had visas for.
According to Ms Bellis, she had spoken with Taliban leaders who assured her that she was fine if she went back to Afghanistan.
Tell people that you are married. If it gets out of control, contact us. They told her, she assured them.
According to her, she had sent New Zealand officials in Afghanistan 59 documents. However, they refused her request for an emergency return.
Chris Hipkins from New Zealand, Covid-19’s response minister, said to the Herald that his office had asked officials for verification of their procedures regarding Ms Bellis’ case.
Chris Bunny was the Joint Head of New Zealand’s Managed Isolation & Quarantine System. He told the Herald that Ms Bellis’s Emergency Application did not meet the requirement to travel within 14 Days.
According to him, staff had reached out to her in regards of making another application that could meet the requirements.
He said that this was not unusual, and that it is an example how the team can be helpful to New Zealanders living in distress.
Ms Bellis stated that pregnancy is a deadly sin in Afghanistan due to the state of maternal care and lack surgical skills.
According to her, she believes that the case is moving along after speaking with lawyers and politicians in New Zealand. However, she still has to get approval to return home.
Ms Ardern tightened further restrictions in the country’s Covid Red Alert program, which means New Zealanders can wear universal masks again and must adhere to stricter quarantine rules.
After only nine Omicron variant cases were discovered in a family flying to Auckland this month, the PM issued the restriction.
Under limits incurred by New Zealand’s My Vaccine Pass, those who are unvaccinated will be unable to eat at indoor restaurants or visit gyms or hairdressers.
Every Kiwi working in education, health and disability or fire and rescue, corrections, defense, security, or defence must have proof that they are vaccinated.
Bandanas, scarves, and t-shirts that are pulled up over the nose will be prohibited in public spaces such as cafes and gyms starting February 3.
Ardern has also implemented new Covid curbs that require all citizens to wear face masks, including in shops. There are also limits on crowd sizes at 100 per day starting Monday after Omicron clusters were discovered in the country.
Critics say the Zero Covid policy is not feasible and may lead to increased cases of people refusing to test for the vaccine. (Photo: Anti-vaxxer protestors at the Covid vaccination clinic, Auckland).
Ardern’s wedding was delayed due to these changes.
Positive test subjects must isolate for 14 days, instead of 10 days. Family contacts also need to be infected for an extra ten days.
Campaigners and the public have criticized Ardern for imposing Covid curbs after the pandemic.
After 102 deaths and 102 instances, international borders were immediately closed. A nationwide lockdown was imposed on March 25, 2020.
Three months later, on June 8, she announced that there were no community transmissions in the last fortnight. She also stated that New Zealand had eliminated Covid community transmission.
After just four cases in Auckland, Auckland was put under tight lockdown within two months.
The country was given a draconian “zero-Covid” goal, and New Zealand set out to eradicate the virus completely from its shores.
This policy, however, was ridiculed when the Delta version ripped through the globe in the summer 2021. It prompted a return of multiple weeks lockdown for Auckland’s 1.7million residents.
Critics condemned the return to harsh curbs on daily life and pointed out that other countries are reopening despite having reported thousands of cases.