According to the new agreement, the Christian clergy will be in charge of the issues of marriage and divorce between non-Muslims.
The judicial system of Abu Dhabi has signed an agreement with representatives of the clergy, which gives Christian churches the right to approve marriages, regulate the processes of its dissolution, and in the near future to resolve issues of custody of children.
This step, unprecedented in its significance, will allow non-Muslims to choose under which legal system, traditional or Sharia-based, their civil cases will be considered.
The review of such cases, in close cooperation with the Judicial Department of Abu Dhabi, will begin next year. Church officials said decisions would be made by the church rather than the court.
The amendments are part of a legislative review carried out by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, the Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Administrative Affairs.
Their goal is to give non-Muslims the right to use the traditional system, not based on Sharia, which will avoid unexpected difficulties associated with ignorance of the process.
Bishoy Fakhri, pastor of the Coptic Orthodox Church of St. Anthony in Abu Dhabi, said that "church participation in the legal system is an indicative and unique experience."
According to the agreement, the church will work on two main areas of family law, mediate in the resolution of disputes between spouses.
According to Andrei Panferov, Senior Consultant at Davidson & Co Law Firm, this initiative certainly represents an innovative approach in cooperation between government agencies and the church. It remains to be seen whether marriages registered by the church will be recognized by UAE state authorities, in particular when applying for family visas for one of the spouses.
However, it must be remembered that in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, marriage outside the Russian Federation can only be registered by authorized state bodies, in particular the Russian Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Russian Consulate in Dubai. A marriage registered in a church will not have legal force in the Russian Federation and other CIS countries.
