New Zealand defends strict Covid quarantine after pregnant journalist ‘had to turn to Taliban’ for help

The New Zealand government has defended its strict quarantine system known as MIQ after a pregnant New Zealand journalist said she had to turn to the Taliban for help after her requests to get back to her own country were rejected.

Charlotte Bellis discovered she was pregnant a short time after gaining international attention in 2021 for questioning Taliban leaders about their treatment of women and girls. She is due to give birth in May.

She resigned from Al Jazeera in November and had no choice but to leave Qatar, where sex outside marriage is illegal. She and her partner, Jim Huylebroek, moved to his native Belgium. But she could not stay long, she wrote in a column published in the New Zealand Herald on Saturday, because she was not a resident. She said the only other place the couple had visas to live was Afghanistan.

She said she had sent 59 documents to New Zealand authorities in Afghanistan but they rejected her application for an emergency return.

New Zealand's Covid-19 response minister, Chris Hipkins, said on Monday there were places in MIQ for people with special circumstances. "No one's saying there is not," he said.

"I understand she wanted to return on a specific date and that officials reached out to her for more information shortly after looking at her application. The emergency allocation criteria includes a requirement to travel to New Zealand within the next 14 days. Ms Bellis indicated she did not intend to travel until the end of February and has been encouraged by MIQ to consider moving her plans forward.

"I understand officials have also since invited her to apply for another emergency category. I encourage her to take these offers seriously.