The legislator gave the Public Prosecution the authority to issue a protection order on its own or at the request of the victim to deter the violent action:From the standpoint that family is the stem of society and the nucleus of all people, United Arab Emirates has ensured the stability of the family being one of the main pillars of society by preserving it from any sort of domestic violence and enhance its social cohesion by issuing special legislation that stems from the dual deterrence and protection. Therefore, a Federal Law Decree N (10) of 2019 in the matter of protection from domestic violence was issued.

Domestic violence as defined in Article (3) where this decree came as protection and deterrence to all practices harmful to the family from any family member against one another of and afflicting physical, mental, sexual or material damage.
 

There are 4 different categories of Domestic Violence that are:

 Physical Abuse
 Psychological Abuse
 Sexual Abuse
 Material Abuse

Domestic Crimes apply to:

 Husband, wife, Children, Grand children
 Step Children
 Parents of either husband or wife
 Relatives via marriage, affiliation to the fourth degree.
 Persons covered by the custody of an alternative family

The legislator gave the Public Prosecution the authority to issue a protection order on its own or at the request of the victim to deter the violent action:

1- Obligation not to be exposed to the defendant
2- Not to approach the places designated for the protection of the defendant or any other place mentioned in the protection order.
3- Do not damage the defendant’s personal property or of any of his relatives.
4- Enable the victim or whoever delegates to collect his personal belongings.
5- Any further measures, Public Prosecution thinks relevant for the protection order would ensure effective protection to the defendant or to any other person likely to be harmed because of their connection.

The duration of the protection order specified by the law with a minimum of thirty days (30) and sixty days (60) maximum. The period may be extended for two similar periods of no more than 60 days, and if the period referred to has elapsed the protection order is extended by a decision of the competent court for a period not to exceed six months and each of the aggressor and the defendant may file a grievance within 7 days of its issuance before the competent court.

In case of violating its provisions, the legislator issued the following penalties:

1- The penalty within this decree ranged between imprisonment for a period of three to six months and a financial fine between 1,000 to 10,000 dirhams or both penalties in case the offender violated the protection order.
The penalty is doubled in case of violation of this protection order using any kind of violence against any of the covered by the provisions of this law decree.
2- He shall be punished with a penalty of imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months and a fine of no more than 5000 dirhams or one of the two penalties to whoever commits any of the domestic violence that is “ Physical, psychological, sexual or material abuse”.
3- The decree also referred criminal acts to the provisions of law N (3) of 1987 relating to the penalties.

The court approves the doubling of the penalty in the event that the perpetrator repeats the act of domestic violence within one year.

As for conciliation and principal of tolerance, the decree referred this measure to the provision of the criminal procedure law which allows the public prosecution to depend on the idea of giving space to family members to restore the relationship between them and amicably ending the dispute with an aim to put an end to violence and in order to preserve social fabric and reflect the development of the legal system.

Counselor \ Suhail Al Dahiri

 MINISTRY OF JUSTICE