The UAE plans to decriminalize “actions that do not harm others.”
The UAE plans to decriminalize “actions that don’t harm others,” potentially ending penalties for alcohol consumption or cohabitation by unmarried couples in this expatriate-dominated country.
Amendments to the UAE’s personal status law, penal code and other laws were made on Saturday, as part of an effort to “strengthen the country’s capacity to attract foreign expertise and investment “, reported the state news agency WAM. He did not say when the amended laws will come into force.
The legal overhaul means that consuming alcohol, living together before marriage and attempting to commit suicide will no longer be considered crimes, The National newspaper reported, without specifying where it got the information.
Although penalties for such actions have not been routinely applied, some criminal cases involving drunkenness or extramarital sex have grown in importance over the years, damaging the Persian Gulf country’s reputation as a magnet for skilled foreign workers. Like other Arab Gulf countries, the oil-dependent UAE depends on expatriates to run much of the economy.
The amendments mean that foreign couples who separate could apply the divorce laws of the country where they married, rather than those of the United Arab Emirates, reported The National. The newspaper, based in the UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi, said the legal changes are effective immediately.
WAM said that foreigners in the Islamic country will also be able to choose which inheritance laws apply to them.
In addition to decriminalizing “unspecified actions that do not harm others,” the government has overturned a mitigating excuse applied to “honor killings,” WAM reported. These crimes are generally understood as assault or murder of relatives, usually women, for “dishonoring” their families. Regular criminal penalties would apply in such cases, WAM said.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
