From the BBC:
“New Zealand responds to
pregnant reporter helped by Taliban”
(Kiwi journalist Charlotte Bellis
with Taliban officials on their iPhones after surveying Hamid Karzai
International Airport.)
New Zealand journalist Charlotte
Bellis said she was unable to return to her home country to give birth. New
Zealand has defended its border controls after a pregnant journalist said she
had to turn to the Taliban for help after not being able to fly home. Covid-19
Response Minister Chris Hipkins said there was a place for "people with
special circumstances" like Charlotte Bellis. Her story has cast a renewed
spotlight on Wellington's tough border measures designed to keep out the
coronavirus. Others took issue with her privileged relationship with the
Taliban. The Taliban has been regularly criticised for brutally clamping down
on women's rights by arresting, torturing and even killing activists and
campaigners.
What did Charlotte Bellis ask
the Taliban? In a column written for the New Zealand Herald newspaper, Ms
Bellis said the New Zealand government had last week rejected her application
to return home to give birth. Currently, Wellington allows citizens and
permanent residents to enter, but only if they spend 10 days isolating in
quarantine hotels. As there is high demand for such facilities and a
limited number of spots, many New Zealanders wishing to return have effectively
been shut out of their country. She compared that experience to the way
she was treated by the Taliban, whom she had contacted to ask if she would be
welcome in Afghanistan as an unmarried pregnant woman. Ms Bellis and her
partner, a Belgian photojournalist, had been in Afghanistan last year covering
the withdrawal of US troops, and it was the only place she and her partner had
visas for. "You can come and you won't have a problem. Just tell people
you're married and if it escalates, call us," Ms Bellis quoted the unnamed
officials as saying in response to her request. "When the Taliban offers
you - a pregnant, unmarried woman - safe haven, you know your situation is
messed up," she wrote. Single Afghan mothers have reported being
frequently harassed by Taliban officials, pressured to give up their children,
and having their custodial rights threatened.
What has the response to her
column been? Since Ms Bellis' letter was published, there have been calls
for New Zealand authorities to adjust the emergency quarantine allocation
criteria to specifically cater for pregnant women. Mr Hipkins defended
the policy saying the system had "served New Zealand exceptionally well,
saved lives and hospital admissions and kept our health system from being
swamped." He added however that New Zealand officials had invited
Ms Bellis to apply for a visa again under a separate emergency category. Ms
Bellis says she has also been offered asylum in another unnamed country since
going public with her struggle. However, her story has also come under
criticism from observers, rights activists and Afghans themselves.
^ I have said it many times
before: New Zealand has, and continues to be, the prime example of what NOT to
do. Their Prime Minister has mishandled the whole Pandemic. If one person coughs
then the whole country shuts down and she refuses to allow her own Citizens to
return home. Being allowed to come home and then quarantined is smart, but not
allowing Citizens to come back home because you don’t have enough quarantine
hotels is not smart. It is the sign of an unprepared nation that is so stoked
with fear that their everyday lives end for no good reason. New Zealand and
their Prime Minister have lost in being a Stable and Modern Democracy thanks to
their Covid Mistakes. ^
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