What are your legal rights under sexual harassment?

In spite of being illicit for the greater part of a century, inappropriate behaviour or sexual harassment remains today the unavoidable type of violence against women, regularly incorporating different categories of brutality in its ambit.

This obstinate and malignant
relies on pervasive behaviour and beliefs embedded in our society supporting maltreatment against women. How does a civilized society condone such behaviour? What can be done to prevent such
actions? A lot of theories have been framed to understand the mentality of men
who tend to commit such an act. Alike
other countries UAE is also facing issues to curb these criminal acts within
the country. Nevertheless, UAE has stringent and severe penalties for such
criminal and well-framed procedures to seek an adequate remedy which is the main subject matter of this article.

Sexual Harassment in any form of behaviour is unaccepted and unasked for and
which tends to humiliate and offend the other person in every way possible. Harassment
can be ongoing or can be one such act. It can take any form regardless of the
place and the relationship with the
person committing it. A behaviour which is
freely accepted in a particular society is
not considered as harassment. However,
if such behaviour is asked to stop as it is no longer acceptable,
it must be restricted immediately.

UAE legislators as any other country
have strict policies against unwelcoming sexual harassment or hostile behaviour. Sexual harassment at the workplace may include repeated offensive jokes
unnecessary comments, unwelcoming touch, intimidation and more. Any offensive behaviour which disturbs
the work environment or makes it unhealthy for women
to perform her professional duties shall be immediately informed to the police
authorities or to a lawyer to take relevant action.

The main aim of this article is to
guide women in UAE to be aware of the laws about
sexual harassment at the workplace and
the procedure to register a complaint about
the same. Federal Law Number 3 of 1987, UAE Penal Code criminalizes any indecent or disgraceful behaviour towards women.
Article 358 and 359 of the Penal Code punishes
by way of imprisonment with a minimum term of 6 months. The law reads as
follows:

“Article 358: Whosoever publicly
or openly commit a disgraceful or
indecent act shall be punished by way of detention for a period not less than six months. In
addition, any unwelcoming or disgraceful act against a girl below the
age of 15 years even if not committed publicly shall be punished with a minimum
imprisonment of 1 year.

Article 359: whosoever disgraces women by words or deeds in a public place, or a street shall be punished with imprisonment
of a period not more than two years and a maximum fine of AED 10,000. Further, a
similar penalty will be imposed on any
man who disguises himself in women’s clothing and enters a public place
reserved for women. If such man commits a crime in such clothing shall be
considered as an aggravating circumstance.”

Furthermore, Article 360 until 370
provides for various categories of sexual harassment at the workplace and the punishment imposed on any man
who commits such crimes. Few examples of such behaviour
are as follows:

·
Anyone who entices
passerby on a road or street by way of words or signs to debauchery shall be punished with a minimum term of 6 months;

·
Anyone who prompts an act
of debauchery by way of song or yelling shall be
imprisoned with a term not
exceeding six months or fine AED 5,000;

·
Imprisonment for a minimum term of 1 year will be imposed on anyone who entices women
to do debauchery or prostitution, wherever a punishment not exceeding ten years for those who entice for debauchery
by coercion;

·
Life imprisonment for those who habitually practice
debauchery or prostitution.

Procedure to file a complaint

Any woman harassed in any way shall
register a complaint at the nearest police station with the help of a lawyer
mentioning the complete details of the act and the details of the harasser
along with any evidence (if any). Upon registering the complaint, the public prosecutor will initiate the relevant
investigation against the harasser and will draft a criminal report to
determine the validity of the complaint and if satisfied will pass on the file
to the criminal court for their verdict.

Harassment at the workplace can be
avoided or stopped if a woman takes a clear action or inform the
employer or other authorities. However, if such person is adamant on his behaviour a prompt legal action is much needed.