Tougher laws will deter people from having children out of wedlock

Yousif Al Bahar said stricter laws would help to protect the welfare of those children, some of whom are abandoned and in some cases killed by their parents, after being born illegally.

DUBAI // A couple convicted of having sex outside of wedlock face a prison sentence of up to two years.

However, if the woman has given birth to an illegitimate child as a result, the court will consider the welfare of the child and offer the couple the chance to get married.

Mothers who abandon their illegitimate children face charges including endangering the safety and life of a child, abandoning a child and having sex outside of wedlock.

Yousif Al Bahar, an Emirati lawyer, called for tougher laws. “If the two don’t get married the child will remain with its mother, but the problem then will be that the child will remain fatherless, with no records and no residency, so what happens to such a child then?”

Mr Al Bahar said that in such cases a mother could file a lawsuit to prove the paternity of her child, in order to obtain records.

“But not many women know this part in law so we need also to educate them,” he said.