As per latest report by Reuters, non-Muslims will be allowed to marry, divorce and get joint child custody under civil law in Abu Dhabi according to a new decree issued on Sunday by its ruler.
It is the latest step in the United Arab Emirates — where personal status laws on marriage and divorce had been based on Islamic sharia principles, as in other Gulf states — to maintain its competitive edge as a regional commercial hub.
The decree from Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, who is also president of the UAE federation of seven emirates, said the law covers civil marriage, divorce, alimony, joint child custody and proof of paternity, and inheritance. As reported by state media WAM,
It aims to enhance the position and global competitiveness of the emirate as one of the most attractive destinations for talent and skills.
The report described the civil law regulating non-Muslim family matters as being the first of its kind in the world “in line with international best practices”.
A new court to handle non-Muslim family matters will be set up in Abu Dhabi and will operate in both English and Arabic.
The UAE last year introduced a number of legal changes at the federal level, including decriminalising premarital sexual relations and alcohol consumption, and cancelling provisions for leniency when dealing with so-called “honour killings”.
These reforms, alongside measures such as introducing longer-term visas, have been seen as a way for the Gulf state to make itself more attractive for foreign investment, tourism and long-term residency.
MDO Take:
- This article is important for India – the largest democracy in the world – that needs urgent and long overdue changes in matrimonial laws, including those of Shared Parenting and Irretrievable Breakdown in Marriage as grounds for divorce
- Every country’s progress is measured from the laws they follow
- India is still stuck with the laws drafted in 1950s in the post independence era
- Courts are flooded with meaningless cases dragging for decades, thereby choking men/women in dead marriages, as the other partner chooses not to consent to divorce
- As we do not have no-fault divorce, couples, especially women, start planting false criminal cases against husbands to extort alimony
- Alternately, while most countries globally amend laws balancing out gender neutral aspects, definition of the same in India is only adding to pro women laws
- One sided laws completely favouring women have made lives of men and their families miserable, leading to several suicides as current matrimonial/maintenance/alimony laws trap them for life
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