UAE Fast-Tracks Legalization of Adultery and Unlawful Relationships
UAE authorities have expedited efforts to legalize adultery and illegitimate relationships within its territory, and are also working to refine procedures for establishing paternity for children with unknown fathers.
It has been announced that Dubai Courts will convene under the leadership of the President of the Personal Status Court to explore ways to enhance and speed up processes related to paternity cases involving children with unidentified fathers. This comes as the first adverse outcome of the recent decision to regulate civil marriage in the country.
The meeting will focus on handling applications from citizens and non-citizens and expediting the issuance of identification documents such as passports, IDs, and birth certificates for these children, aiming to provide them with a stable environment.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi were the pioneers in legalizing “civil marriage,” a concept that is independent of Islamic teachings and fundamentally opposed to Islamic law, and also rejected by the three major world religions.
Civil (secular) marriage is a legal agreement established in the presence of witnesses and a clerk, with both parties’ consent. Its primary aim is to eliminate religious, sectarian, and ethnic distinctions between the spouses.
In civil (secular) marriage, the difference in religion or sect between the partners is not an issue, as the marriage process and contract are designed to transcend religious, sectarian, and ethnic differences.
Two years ago, the UAE officially legalized adultery and illegal cohabitation on its territory through a law that came into effect allowing birth certificates to be issued to children of unknown fathers.
At the time, the local English-language newspaper, Al Khaleej Times, said that the state authorities had begun issuing birth certificates to children of unknown fathers after implementing the new Personal Status Law.
Mohammed bin Zayed, President of the UAE, issued the new law, by decree, regulating the registration of births and deaths in the country.
According to a newspaper report, the decree that took effect last October acknowledges the right of children to receive birth certificates, irrespective of their parents’ marital status or whether the father’s identity is known.
Under the new decree, a mother can now register her newborn through the judiciary by submitting a detailed application form. In this form, she must declare that she is the biological mother of the child, provide supporting documents, and include the hospital birth report. The court will review the application within a few days and then request the Ministry of Health to issue a birth certificate.
The application process allows the mother to obtain two key documents for a child with an unknown father: a birth notification and a copy of the Emirates ID or passport.
According to Article 7 of the Federal Family Law, marriage is no longer a condition for registering a child, and this was implemented in Abu Dhabi in 2020, and later with the approval of civil marriage in 2021, in addition to the use of the law of the words mother and father, not husband and wife.
The newspaper said that under the new civil marriage system, secular law allows expatriates, tourists, and non-residents to marry in Abu Dhabi, and the service is provided only from the capital, Abu Dhabi, and tourists are allowed to obtain civil marriage certificates.
