The United Arab Emirates government has introduced a series of legal reforms which will liberalise aspects of daily life as well as introducing changes to family law for expats and tightening laws concerning violence against women.
The changes, which have come into force immediately, include decriminalising alcohol and suicide, allowing the cohabitation of unmarried couples, criminalising honour crimes against women and allowing expat couples who married overseas to divorce using the laws of their home country.
While aspects of the previous rules, such as in relation to consumption of alcohol without a licence or unmarried couples living together, were unlikely to attract prosecution, the changes are designed to provide more legal certainty and to create a more progressive climate for business and tourism.
Announcing the changes, the government said the reforms would aim to further “entrench the principles of tolerance in the society and strengthen the country’s position as a preferred hub that attracts people to reside and work”.
The UAE’s banks have certainly benefitted from the country’s growth as a business hub in recent decades. Banker database data shows that since 2000, the UAE’s share of pre-tax bank profits in the Middle East region has increased from 10.86% to 27.25%. Two out of the region’s five largest banks – First Abu Dhabi Bank and Emirates NBD – are found in the UAE.
