Pregnant journalist Charlotte Bellis is still welcome in her home country of New Zealand, she says on Twitter. The woman has been trying for months to travel from Afghanistan to her home country to give birth there, but due to the strict corona measures in New Zealand, that seemed impossible.
Foreign editors
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09:12
Last August, Charlotte Bellis, who has a relationship with Belgian photographer Jim Huylebroek, traveled to Afghanistan to report on the takeover by the Taliban. Later, Bellis went to Qatar, where she discovered that she is pregnant.
Since it is a crime in Qatar to become pregnant without being married, Bellis moved to Belgium, her boyfriend’s homeland, a few months later. Because she was not a permanent resident, she could not stay long in Belgium either. The couple only had visas to live in Afghanistan.
open letter
Bellis wrote in an open letter, published in The New Zealand Herald, how she was forced to ask for help from the Taliban in Afghanistan after the return to her motherland was rejected due to the current corona measures.
Anyone wishing to return to New Zealand from abroad will be quarantined for ten days in a shelter run by the military. However, there are long waiting lists due to lack of space. After the publication of her open letter, several calls came to adjust the quarantine policy in New Zealand.
Return
Bellis announced on Twitter today that she can return to New Zealand in March to give birth there. We are very much looking forward to going home and surrounding ourselves with family and friends during this special time.
“We would like to thank all New Zealanders for their overwhelming support. It was very stressful and your messages of support have been a huge help to Jim and me,” Bellis continues. “We’re sorry it had to come to this.”
Bellis will continue to fight to provide all New Zealanders with a safe haven where their rights are respected. ‘Unfortunately, the application was not approved on the basis of a medical necessity, but on the basis of our whereabouts. Unfortunately, the government does not recognize childbirth as planned medical treatment. So this does not solve anything for other pregnant New Zealand citizens who have the right to give birth in their home country.’
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