In this day and age, with easy access to travel, parental child abduction has become increasingly widespread. Parents forum shop for the perfect place in order to the keep their child. The United Arab Emirates happens to be one of those places.

The UAE is not a party to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which protects against the retention of children across international borders and seeks the return of children to their habitual residence. Nor is it a party to the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, which gives courts in the child’s home state exclusive and continuing jurisdiction for child custody litigation. UAE courts also do not enforce foreign custody orders. However there are certain circumstances in which the UAE has a bilateral treaty with other countries concerning international child abductors and their extradition. Generally though, the UAE follows a comprehensive set of child custody laws set out in its own federal law system.

Often an abduction case in the UAE is treated as a child custody case. If the court finds that there is an actual case of parental child abduction, they treat it as a criminal offense. The UAE uses its own laws to ensure a child’s protection, instead of surrendering the child’s fate to a foreign court, whose system may be unfavorable to the child\’s welfare. Therefore, a parent must apply for custody and permission to bring the child back to his or her habitual residence through the UAE courts.

Residents of the UAE are awarded more protection than non-residents. However, priority is generally given to the Muslim father, irrespective of nationality, when the mother is non-Muslim. Though, in determining matters of custody, courts in the UAE consider the parents\’ religion, place of permanent residence, income, the child’s age and gender, and the mother\’s subsequent marital status. With reference to non-Muslims, the laws of the child’s birth place apply, in so far as they do not conflict with local federal laws. When the case is first presented, foreign nationals can ask for their case to be heard under the laws of their country of origin; however, the law of their own country cannot be applied once the case has started in UAE courts. Normally the parent, who has fled to the UAE with the child, starts a case in UAE courts in order to apply local legislation.