UAE takes steps towards modernization by decriminalizing alcohol, bolstering women rights

The United Arab Emirates has introduced a slew of reforms on personal status and penal laws as part of a years-long bid to modernize the Gulf state and promote a progressive brand separate from Islam.

Over the weekend, the oil-rich country announced it had decriminalized alcohol and suicide, and scrapped so-called “honor crime” provisions that gave men lighter sentences if they assaulted female relatives to protect a family’s reputation.

The changes, announced Saturday in the state-linked The National newspaper, will allow unmarried couples to live together and decriminalize the sale and consumption of alcohol. Under the old laws, a person could be prosecuted for drinking without a license if they had been arrested for another offense. This will not happen under the new law, the newspaper said.

The changes are effective immediately, the newspaper said, and include the criminalization of so-called “honor killings” in which male relatives have traditionally gotten away with murder for assaulting women they suspected of cheating on their spouses. Tougher penalties for sexual harassment have also been introduced, and the punishment for rape of a minor or of a person of limited mental capacity will be execution.

The reforms aim to “consolidate the UAE’s principles of tolerance,” according to the state-run WAM news agency.