{"id":60,"area":"Asia","region_name":"United Arab Emirates","iso_2":"AE","region_sub":null,"legal_code_title":"Penal Code enacted by Federal Law No. 3 from 1987 & Law on Combating Cybercrimes, Law No. 5 from 2012","legal_code_title_citation_1":"Text of the law is available here: http://ejustice.gov.ae/downloads/latest_laws/cybercrimes_5_2012_en.pdf","legal_code_title_citation_2":null,"legal_code_body":"Article 35(4) - “Without prejudice to the provisions of the Islamic Sharia, shall be punished by imprisonment and a fine not less than two hundred fifty thousand dirhams and not in excess of one million dirhams or either of these two penalties whoever commits through the computer network or any information technology means or a website […] condoning, provoking or promoting sin.”","legal_code_body_citation_1":null,"legal_code_body_citation_2":null,"legal_code_body_citation_3":null,"legal_code_body_citation_4":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments":"All sexual acts outside of heterosexual marriage are banned in the United Arab Emirates. No article in Federal Law No (3) of 1987 on Issuance of the Penal Code specifically discusses consensual same-sex relations, although various scholars translate this article otherwise. \nIt is through the Sharia code that the death penalty theoretically can apply to same-sex sexual relations through the offence of Zina (Article 356) which applies to sexual relations outside of marriage of any sort. However, research by leading human rights organisations concludes that although in some cases courts have gone beyond codified laws and imposed harsher sentences of stoning and flogging for Zina crimes, it appears that the law is used in rape cases only. \nDifferent Emirates within the UAE have anti-sodomy laws: Article 80 of the Criminal Code in Abu Dhabi (the Emirate that is the seat of the UAE), criminalises “[unnatural sex with another person]”, punishable up to 14 years in jail. (This law was passed in 1970, before Abu Dhabi was an independent entity). Article 177 of the Emirate of Dubai (also passed in 1970) imposes 10 years of imprisonment for [sodomy]. \nThe UAE received two State recommendations regarding SOGI in its 2013 2nd cycle UPR: “Protect the human rights of all individuals, including LGBT individuals, and take appropriate steps to help ensure that protection is provided to the victim and perpetrators are identified and prosecuted” (USA), and “Repeal the criminalization of sexual relations between persons of the same sex” (Argentina). It ‘noted’ both and appears to have made no comment at any session on these issues.","legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_1":"323 See Federal Law No (3) of 1987, on Issuance of the Penal Code: http://www.icrc.org/ihl-nat/6fa4d35e5e3025394125673e00508143/e656047207c93f99c12576b2003ab8c1/$FILE/Penal%20Code.pdf","legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_2":"324 Id.","legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_3":"325 German Bundestag, Criminal law provisions on homosexuality and their application around the world, Printed Paper 16/3597, 28 November 2006 at 29. http://www.gaylawnet.com/ezine/crime/16_3597_minor_interpellation.pdf","legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_4":"326 Schmitt, Arno and Sofer, Jehoeda, Sexuality and Eroticism Among Males in Moslem Societies (Binghamton: Harrington Park\nPress, 1992) at 144.","legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_5":"327 See Amnesty International, “Love, hate and the law: decriminalizing homosexuality” at 51, available at: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/POL30/003/2008/en/d77d0d58-4cd3-11dd-bca2-bb9d43f3e059/pol300032008eng.html","legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_6":"328 Schmitt, Arno and Sofer, Jehoeda, Sexuality and Eroticism Among Males in Moslem Societies (Binghamton: Harrington Park Press, 1992) at 145","legal_code_scruff_comments":null,"prison_term_min_length":null,"prison_term_max_length":15,"prison_term_notes":null,"prison_term_not_specified":null,"prison_term_years":true,"prison_term_life":null,"prison_term_mandatory":null,"fine_min_amount":null,"fine_max_amount":null,"fine_currency":null,"fine_notes":null,"fine_not_specified":null,"fine_amount":null,"fine_mandatory":null,"penalty_death":false,"penalty_death_notes":"Disputed","penalty_corporal_punishment":null,"penalty_corporal_punishment_notes":null,"penalty_hard_labor":null,"penalty_hard_labor_notes":null,"penalty_banishment":null,"legal_code_explicitly_references_same_sex_acts":null,"legal_code_explicitly_references_acts_against_nature":null,"legal_code_differentiates_anal_sex_from_other_acts":null,"legal_code_indicates_hiv_as_aggravating_factor":null,"legal_code_indicates_age_of_consent_homosexual_acts_over_18":null,"existing_laws_used_to_target_gays_but_not_anti_gay":null,"islamic_sharia_law":true,"islamic_sharia_law_notes":"Application unclear","laws_subregional_variance_or_contradiction":true,"laws_subregional_variance_or_contradiction_notes":null,"laws_not_specifically_homophobic":null,"laws_status_unclear":null,"laws_status_unclear_notes":null,"persecution_non_state_agents":null,"criminalization_under_consideration":null,"recently_decriminalized":null,"propaganda_law_under_consideration":null,"propaganda_law_title":null,"propaganda_law_title_citation_1":null,"propaganda_law_body":null,"propaganda_law_body_citation_1":null,"propaganda_law_ilga_comments":null,"legal_developments_2023_2024_summary":null,"legal_developments_2023_2024_citations":"ILGA World, Laws On Us: A Global Overview of Legal Progress and Backtracking on SOGIESC, 1st Ed. (Geneva, May 2024) (country not referenced in Ch.1/2 narrative).","status_change_type":"Unchanged (not mentioned in 2024 report)"}