Death Penalty in the UAE and France

Death Penalty in the UAE and France

The death sentence is a contentious issue all over the world. It is a severe form of punishment, meted out by the criminal justice system after a fair trial and enforced by governments to persons deemed to have committed heinous criminal acts that may include murder, rape, treason, and other criminal activities that are considered to be capital offenses. However, the application of the death sentence is a matter that elicits different opinions from the world citizenry, and countries have different applications of the death sentence. There are those countries that propagate its application and others that vehemently oppose it. On this issue, I will cover the comparison and contrast of the application of the death penalty in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) under Sharia Law and in France under Civil Law.

Similarities

Both the UAE and France are signatories to International Treaties that seek to ratify the abolishment of the death penalty. The two States are also signatories to Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that everyone has a right to life, liberty, and security. Another notable treaty that both States ratified is Article 6/1 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights states that “every human being has an inherent right to life. This shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life. Another interesting comparison is the existence of a middle ground where in France, same-sex marriages are lawfully recognized but punishable by death; in the UAE, the sentence is never enforced. The UAE began replacing its’ legal system in the early 1960s from the traditional system of law and justice (Sharia Laws) to laws and institutions of western inspiration.