UK Edition
Human Rights Watch warns expat women about the UAE
The campaigning organisation Human Rights Watch has highlighted the problems women in the United Arab Emirates can face if they become embroiled in a legal dispute with their husband.
HRW accused the authorities in the UAE – home to large numbers of British expats – of “failing to respond adequately to reports of domestic violence”.
It also highlighted the use of Islamic law, which discriminates against women.
HRW said it is aware of complaints from a number of expatriate women who say their reports of domestic violence to police in the UAE were not taken seriously.
It also highlighted cases where woman have seen custody of their children given to their former partners, who have prevented them from seeing the children.
“The UAE has sharia courts but its civil and criminal courts also apply elements of sharia, codified into its criminal code and family law, in a way which discriminates against women,” said a spokesman.
“Under their interpretation it's permissible for a husband to physically chastise his wife and it is a crime for a woman to work without her husband's permission, for example.
“So while the UAE's civil and sharia courts apply the principle of ‘in the best interests of the child’ in cases relating to the residence [custody] of a child, the discrimination women suffer in other areas of the law may mean they don't get a fair trial in these hearings.”
Human Rights Watch also warned that there are no independent women’s rights organisations in the UAE.
Telegraph Expat has previously reported on the case of Afsana Lachaux, from London, who was a senior civil servant at the Department of Work and Pensions before moving to Dubai in 2010, shortly after marrying her ex-husband, who is from France.
She has not seen their son Louis, now aged four, since October 2013, and fears she will not be able to see him until he is 18 after being found guilty of “kidnapping” him during a bitter custody battle with her ex-husband. He took legal action against her for abducting Louis when she failed to take him to a court-ordered access meeting. Mrs Lachaux said she did not turn up because her husband had threatened her, a claim he denied. She complained that the police dismissed her allegations of domestic violence and that the court that heard the case refused to listen to her evidence and witnesses.
Mrs Lachaux, 46, alleges that her ex-husband, who is Christian, exploited Dubai’s legal system to gain custody of the boy and have criminal charges brought against her. She offered her backing to the HRW campaign to highlight the problems women can face in the UAE.
“You can be a non-Muslim man and use sharia and he stipulated he wanted to use sharia. The reason is that under sharia, women are treated like second-class citizens and you don’t have any rights. Women like me can be divorced without you knowing and sharia law can be used against you even if your husband, like mine, is not Emirati and you married in England. Basically, you’re stuffed,” she said.
“If you are criminalised as women in a child custody battle then it negates your child custody case.”
Mrs Lachaux warned women to think carefully about the implications of living in the UAE in the event that their marriage breaks down, adding: “I want the Foreign Office to warn women that Dubai is a dangerous place for them. You don’t get protection from the police and from the courts. I made one mistake and that was going to the UAE. If I knew what I know now, I never would have left Britain.”
Another woman who feels strongly that she did not receive fair treatment at the hands of Dubai’s legal system is Tess Lorrigan, a schoolteacher from Britain. She was deported from Dubai in 2011 – and forced to leave her adopted daughter behind – for working without her estranged husband’s permission, which is an offence there.
She is continuing to fight through the courts to have Olianne, the daughter she and her husband adopted from Nepal before their marriage broke down, returned to her. Olianne is now aged eight, and Ms Lorrigan has not seen her for more than a year.
Ms Lorrigan said: “It doesn’t matter if you’re British or not. Any husband of any nationality can use sharia law. I was very naive and didn’t realise it applied to me.”
She warned women thinking of moving to the UAE: “If you’re in a very happy secure marriage with no problems whatsoever, Dubai is a place where you can have a good life. But if there are any strains on your marriage whatsoever, you should go with a secret get-out plan should you want you want to go home – and don’t tell your husband what you are doing.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are aware of a very small number of divorce cases involving British nationals in the UAE, where the courts have applied aspects of UAE law which are based on Islamic principles."
She said that the FCO provides a range of advice to Britons thinking of moving to the UAE and advice on specific types of consular assistance, such as child custody cases.
"We have updated our Living in the UAE guide to reflect the use of UAE personal affairs law – which is based on Islamic principles – in child custody and divorce cases," she added.
Grant Howell, head of the Charles Russell family law firm, which has offices in the Gulf, said: "The warning about the potential implications for Britons having their divorces or child custody cases dealt with by the UAE courts underlines just how important it is that expats are fully aware of their legal rights if their relationship breaks down. The English courts can still be involved and it is essential that any expats faced with this situation gets advice from an English lawyer with experience in this area. The fact that they may not have lived here for many years does not necessarily rule out using the English court system."
The embassy of the United Arab Emirates in London was invited to comment on this article.