Dubai

==Law enforcement and crime==
[[File:Dubai_Police_at_work_(cropped).jpg|thumb|Dubai Police operates a fleet of [[exotic car]]s.]]

The [[Dubai Police Force]], founded in 1956 in the locality of [[Naif]], has law enforcement jurisdiction over the emirate. The force is under direct command of Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.uae-embassy.org/services-resources/students/scholarship-programs/dubai-police|title=Dubai Police|date=|work=uae-embassy.org|access-date=2021-03-05|archive-date=7 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307002931/https://www.uae-embassy.org/services-resources/students/scholarship-programs/dubai-police|url-status=live}}</ref> Dubai and [[Ras al Khaimah]] are the only emirates that do not conform to the federal judicial system of the United Arab Emirates.<ref>On the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Legal System. Gulf-Law.com</ref> The emirate's judicial courts comprise the Court of First Instance, the Court of Appeal, and the Court of Cassation. The Court of First Instance consists of the Civil Court, which hears all civil claims; the Criminal Court, which hears claims originating from police complaints; and [[Sharia]] Court, which is responsible for matters between Muslims. Non-Muslims do not appear before the Sharia Court. The Court of Cassation is the supreme court of the emirate and hears disputes on matters of law only.<ref name="judicial">UAE Consulate of the United States</ref> Alcohol sale and consumption, though legal, is regulated. Adult non-Muslims are allowed to consume alcohol in licensed venues, typically within hotels, or at home with the possession of an alcohol licence. Places other than hotels, clubs, and specially designated areas are typically not permitted to sell alcohol.<ref>{{Citation|title = Alcohol / liquor licence and laws in Dubai|url = https://www.guide2dubai.com/living/laws-and-regulations/alcohol-licence-in-dubai|url-status=live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150224055416/https://www.guide2dubai.com/living/laws-and-regulations/alcohol-licence-in-dubai|archive-date = 24 February 2015|df = dmy-all}}</ref> As in other parts of the world, [[drinking and driving]] is illegal, with 21 being the [[legal drinking age]] in the [[Emirate of Dubai]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/transport/law-gets-tough-on-drunk-drivers-in-dubai-1.627258|title=Law gets tough on drunk drivers in Dubai|last=Reporter|first=Bassam Za'za', Senior|date=16 May 2010|newspaper=Gulf News|access-date=2 February 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203081716/http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/transport/law-gets-tough-on-drunk-drivers-in-dubai-1.627258|archive-date=3 February 2017}}</ref>

Dubai has one of the world's lowest violent crime rates,<ref name="Agarib">{{cite web|url=https://www.khaleejtimes.com/nation/dubai/dubai-among-worlds-safest-cities-as-serious-crimes-decline|title=Dubai among world's safest cities as serious crimes decline|last=Agarib|first=Amira|website=www.khaleejtimes.com|access-date=30 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180606080556/https://www.khaleejtimes.com/nation/dubai/dubai-among-worlds-safest-cities-as-serious-crimes-decline|archive-date=6 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> and in 2019 was ranked the seventh-safest city in the world.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.arabnews.com/node/1142071/offbeat|title=Arab countries score low on crime, highest on safety in world survey|date=9 August 2017|work=Arab News|access-date=30 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190416101505/http://www.arabnews.com/node/1142071/offbeat|archive-date=16 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Crime Index Rate |url=https://www.numbeo.com/crime/rankings_current.jsp |website=Numbeo |access-date=5 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180805204052/https://www.numbeo.com/crime/rankings_current.jsp |archive-date=5 August 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Crime Index Rate |url=https://www.numbeo.com/crime/gmaps.jsp?indexToShow=safety |website=Numbeo |access-date=5 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180805204118/https://www.numbeo.com/crime/gmaps.jsp?indexToShow=safety |archive-date=5 August 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> The Security Industry Regulatory Agency classified the crimes into six categories.<ref name="Reporter">{{Cite news|url=https://gulfnews.com/news/uae/crime/revealed-top-crimes-committed-in-dubai-1.2169034|title=Revealed: Top crimes committed in Dubai|last=Reporter|first=Mariam M. Al Serkal, Senior Web|date=6 February 2018|work=GulfNews|access-date=30 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180730140503/https://gulfnews.com/news/uae/crime/revealed-top-crimes-committed-in-dubai-1.2169034|archive-date=30 July 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> These crimes include theft, forced robbery, domestic burglary, fraud, sexual assault and abuse, and criminal damages.<ref name="Reporter" /> As per ''[[Gulf News]]'', Dubai Police stated that the crime in Dubai was reduced by fifteen percent during 2017. However, the cases of drugs operation increased by eight per cent. Major-General Abdullah Khalifa Al Merri, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police, hailed the force which solved 86 per cent of criminal cases.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://gulfnews.com/news/uae/emergencies/dubai-police-hailed-as-serious-crimes-rate-falls-by-15-1.2156360|title=Dubai Police hailed as serious crimes rate falls by 15%|author=Ali Al Shouk|date=13 January 2018|work=GulfNews|access-date=30 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180730140452/https://gulfnews.com/news/uae/emergencies/dubai-police-hailed-as-serious-crimes-rate-falls-by-15-1.2156360|archive-date=30 July 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

===International crime hub and criminal haven===
Dubai is a notorious global centre and sanctuary for criminals and their associates. It has been called a 'gangster's paradise'.<ref>Liam Collins, 'Gangsters' paradise – Dubai's finely spun web starts to unravel', Irish Independent, 21 February 2021; [https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/gangsters-paradise-dubais-finely-spun-web-starts-to-unravel/40114262.html]</ref> This includes money laundering by major crime syndicates.

This state of affairs has been enabled by a complex range of factors: the lack of extradition treaties with many countries, banking secrecy, liberal visa policies, low taxes, a large expatriate community in which shady figures are easily absorbed and welcomed, a non-transparent real estate market that readily enables money laundering, and not least, the monarchical dictatorship of the Maktoum family which facilitates it through deliberately lax legislation and policy.<ref>Dubai's Golden Sands, Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), 12 June, 2018; [https://www.occrp.org/en/goldensands/]</ref><ref>Christian Baghai, 'How Dubai Became a Safe Haven for Europe’s Most Wanted Criminals', Medium, 28 December 2023</ref> One international billionaire criminal it has harboured is Amit Gupta, who bribed Nauru politicians in an attempt to stage a coup that would give him control of that island's mining rights.<ref>'Nick McKenzie, Michael Bachelard, 'The man who tried to buy a country', The Age, 9 March 2024; [https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/the-man-who-tried-to-buy-a-country-20240227-p5f83r.html]</ref> Another transnational crime figure to whom the citystate provides sanctuary is Ahmed Al Hamza.<ref>One of Melbourne’s most powerful gangsters lives half a world away, ''HeraldSun'', 8 September 2023;[https://www.heraldsun.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-victoria/powerful-melbourne-crime-figure-pulling-strings-from-afar/news-story/200819abcf6e826ab9a4faeaccdcd249]</ref>

''Dubai’s Role in Facilitating Corruption and Global Illicit Financial Flows'', a 2020 report from influential Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, stated: "part of what underpins Dubai’s prosperity is a steady stream of illicit proceeds borne from corruption and crime...Meanwhile, both Emirati leaders and the international community continue to turn a blind eye to the problematic behaviours, administrative loopholes, and weak enforcement practices that make Dubai a globally attractive destination for dirty money.”<ref>Matthew T. Page, Vodi Vittori, 'Dubai’s Role in Facilitating Corruption and Global Illicit Financial Flows', 7 July 2020; [https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/07/07/dubai-s-role-in-facilitating-corruption-and-global-illicit-financial-flows-pub-82180]</ref>

Dubai is an investment base for the international drug trade by Balkan criminal groups, while Belgian criminals are notably active in its real estate market on behalf of Russian oligarchs and politicians, who seek to launder their ill-gotten gains.<ref>Christian Baghai, 'How Dubai Became a Safe Haven for Europe’s Most Wanted Criminals', Medium, 28 December 2023</ref>  In 2022, a data leak obtained by the U.S. Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS), exposed just some of this activity.<ref>Matthew Kupfer, Eiliv Frich Flydal, 'Dubai Uncovered: Data Leak Exposes How Criminals, Officials, and Sanctioned Politicians Poured Money Into Dubai Real Estate', Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), 3 May 2022; [https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/dubai-uncovered-data-leak-exposes-how-criminals-officials-and-sanctioned-politicians-poured-money-into-dubai-real-estate]</ref> Dubai is under observation by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which is likely to bring greater international scrutiny and pressure on its government.<ref>Matthew T. Page, Vodi Vittori, 'Dubai’s Role in Facilitating Corruption and Global Illicit Financial Flows', 7 July 2020; [https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/07/07/dubai-s-role-in-facilitating-corruption-and-global-illicit-financial-flows-pub-82180]</ref>

===Human rights===
{{Main|Human rights in Dubai}}
[[File:Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (II).jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum (born 1985)|Latifa]], daughter of [[Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum|Dubai's ruler]], escaped Dubai in February 2018 but was captured in the Indian Ocean.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/dubai-princess-missing-latest-sheikha-latifa-escape-uae-detained-sheikh-mohammed-a8339976.html|title=Dubai princess: UN asked to intervene over ruler's daughter 'detained against her will' after failed escape from UAE|last=Alabaster|first=Olivia|date=7 May 2018|work=The Independent|access-date=3 August 2019|archive-date=29 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629160557/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/dubai-princess-missing-latest-sheikha-latifa-escape-uae-detained-sheikh-mohammed-a8339976.html|url-status=live}}</ref>]]
Companies in Dubai have in the past been criticised for human rights violations against labourers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last = Davis |first = Mike |author-link = Mike Davis (scholar) |title = Fear and money in Dubai |journal = [[New Left Review]] |volume = II |issue = 41 |pages = 47–68 |date = September–October 2006 |url = http://newleftreview.org/II/41/mike-davis-fear-and-money-in-dubai |url-status=live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160220034223/http://newleftreview.org/II/41/mike-davis-fear-and-money-in-dubai |archive-date = 20 February 2016 |df = dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="Propertywire.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.propertywire.com/news/middle-east/job-losses-property-decline-dubai-200812032193.html |title=Job losses hasten property decline in Dubai but medium-long term outlook upbeat |publisher=Propertywire.com |date=3 December 2008 |access-date=14 July 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090119123812/http://www.propertywire.com/news/middle-east/job-losses-property-decline-dubai-200812032193.html |archive-date=19 January 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title = Mohammad Bin Rashid approves Dubai's budget for 2015|url = http://gulfnews.com/business/economy/mohammad-bin-rashid-approves-dubai-s-budget-for-2015-1.1435488|website = Gulf News| date=3 January 2015 |access-date = 25 May 2015|url-status=live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150512084427/http://gulfnews.com/business/economy/mohammad-bin-rashid-approves-dubai-s-budget-for-2015-1.1435488|archive-date = 12 May 2015|df = dmy-all}}</ref> Some of the 250,000 foreign labourers in the city have been alleged to live in conditions described by [[Human Rights Watch]] as "less than humane".<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/uae1106/|title=Human Rights Watch – Building Towers, Cheating Workers: Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers in the United Arab Emirates|journal=Human Rights Watch |date=11 November 2006 |access-date=4 October 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006124105/http://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/uae1106/|archive-date=6 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/uae1106/uae1106web.pdf|author=Human Rights Watch|title=Building Towers, Cheating Workers: Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers in the United Arab Emirates|edition=PDF|access-date=12 February 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305144614/https://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/uae1106/uae1106web.pdf|archive-date=5 March 2016}}</ref><ref name=hrw>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4861540.stm |work=BBC News |title=UAE to allow construction unions |date=30 March 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060423122628/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4861540.stm |archive-date=23 April 2006}}</ref><ref name="dubaifire">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6277613.stm |work=BBC News |title=Dubai fire investigation launched |date=19 January 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090929224627/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6277613.stm |archive-date=29 September 2009}}</ref> The mistreatment of foreign workers was a subject of the difficult-to-make documentary, ''Slaves in Dubai'' (2009).<ref name="Slaves in Dubai documentary">{{cite web |url=https://www.vice.com/video/the-slaves-of-dubai |title=Slaves in Dubai documentary |publisher=VICE |year=2009 |access-date=18 February 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141116012730/http://www.vice.com/video/the-slaves-of-dubai |archive-date=16 November 2014}}</ref> The Dubai government has denied labour injustices and stated that the watchdogs' (Human Rights Watch) accusations were "misguided". The filmmaker explained in interviews how it was necessary to go undercover to avoid discovery by the authorities, who impose high fines on reporters attempting to document human rights abuses, including the conditions of construction workers.

Towards the end of March 2006, the government had announced steps to allow construction unions. UAE labour minister Ali al-Kaabi said: "Labourers will be allowed to form unions."<ref>{{cite news |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4861540.stm |access-date = 24 April 2006 |work = BBC News |title = UAE to allow construction unions |date = 30 March 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060423122628/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4861540.stm |archive-date = 23 April 2006 |df = dmy-all}}</ref> As of 2020, the federal public prosecution has clarified that "it is an offense when at least three public employees collectively leave work or one of the duties to achieve an unlawful purpose. Each employee will be punished with not less than 6 months in prison and not more than a year, as the imprisonment will be for leaving the job or duties that affect the health or the security of the people, or affect other public services of public benefit." Any act of spreading discord among employees will be punishable by imprisonment, and in all cases, foreigners will be deported.<ref>{{cite news |url = https://www.khaleejtimes.com/news/government/you-can-get-jailed-for-breaking-this-uae-work-law-video-warning-issued |access-date = 22 September 2020 |publisher = Khaleej Times |title = You can get jailed for breaking this UAE work law; video warning issued |date = 22 September 2020 |archive-date = 22 September 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200922191325/https://www.khaleejtimes.com/news/government/you-can-get-jailed-for-breaking-this-uae-work-law-video-warning-issued |url-status = live}}</ref>

[[LGBT rights in the United Arab Emirates|Homosexual acts]] are illegal under UAE law.<ref>{{cite news |title=Homosexuality can still mean the death penalty in many countries |url=https://www.thejournal.ie/same-sex-rights-across-the-world-4222149-Sep2018/ |work=[[TheJournal.ie]] |date=9 September 2018 |access-date=3 August 2019 |archive-date=3 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803205755/https://www.thejournal.ie/same-sex-rights-across-the-world-4222149-Sep2018/ |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Freedom of speech]] in Dubai is limited, with both residents and citizens facing severe sanctions from the government for speaking out against the royal family or local laws and culture.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uae-ambassador-threatens-further-sanctions-against-qatar-918691291|title=UAE ambassador: 'We do not promote idea of press freedom'|work=Middle East Eye|access-date=11 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180212005345/http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uae-ambassador-threatens-further-sanctions-against-qatar-918691291|archive-date=12 February 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Some of the labourers lured by the higher pay available in Dubai are victims of human trafficking or forced labour while some women are even forced into the growing sex trade in Dubai, a centre of human trafficking and prostitution.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/dubai-in-united-arab-emirates-an-epicentre-of-human-trafficking-and-prostitution-20160115-gm6mdl.html|title=Dubai in United Arab Emirates a centre of human trafficking and prostitution|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=20 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160120212511/http://www.smh.com.au/world/dubai-in-united-arab-emirates-an-epicentre-of-human-trafficking-and-prostitution-20160115-gm6mdl.html|archive-date=20 January 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

Defamation on social media is a punishable offence in Dubai with fines up to half a million dirhams and jail term for up to 2 years. In January 2020, three Sri Lankan expats were fined 500,000 [[United Arab Emirates dirham|dirhams]] (US$136,000) each for posting defamatory Islamophobic Facebook posts.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.khaleejtimes.com/news/crime-and-courts/3-men-in-dubai-fined-dh500000-each-for-insulting-islam-online-/|title=3 men in Dubai fined Dh500,000 each for insulting Islam online|last=Nammour|first=Marie|date=20 January 2020|website=Khaleejtimes|access-date=8 Aug 2021|archive-date=9 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210809003538/https://www.khaleejtimes.com/news/crime-and-courts/3-men-in-dubai-fined-dh500000-each-for-insulting-islam-online-/|url-status=live}}</ref>