DESK REVIEW ON POPULATIONS AT RISK OF STATELESSNESS In Qatar, under Article 181 of the Penal Code, “Whoever copulates with a female over 16 without compulsion, duress or ruse shall be punished with imprisonment for a term up to seven years.” In Saudi Arabia, there is no codified criminal law. “…Saudi criminal judgments are determined by Islamic judges according to Saudi Arabia’s strict interpretation of Sharia law, which includes criminalization of adultery… Sexual contact outside of marriage can carry a death sentence… [, and] Saudi Arabia’s criminal ban on adultery is actively enforced.”124 In the UAE, under Article 365 of the Penal Code, “the crime of voluntary debasement shall be penalized by detention for a minimum term of one year, but if the said crime is perpetrated on a male or female below 14 years of age or if committed by coercion, the penalty shall be term imprisonment.” For all of the above reasons, unmarried migrant workers who become pregnant are often unable to seek medical care, or are afraid to, for fear of criminal prosecution. “The potential for criminal charges is often compounded by lifelong societal discrimination against single parents and their children, as well as the threat of violent retribution for transgressing traditional notions of family ‘honor.’”125 There have been cases where even reporting a rape is regarded by the authorities as illicit sex and has led to the victims being jailed.126 There have also been cases of abandonment of the children, where the mother likely fears being arrested and jailed, and feels that they are also unable to look after their children.127 There are child and baby detention facilities, and mothers who come forward and surrender may still be required to complete a custodial sentence before they can leave the country. Undocumented parents may have undocumented children. Without a birth certificate or any other identification, the child has no access to education or health care. Betsy L. Fisher, Gender Discrimination and Statelessness in the Gulf Cooperation Council States, 23 MICH. J. GENDER& L. 269 (2016). Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjgl/vol23/iss2/1. 124 125 Ibid. See for example: US State Department Human Rights Report for 2019 on Saudi Arabia, available at: https://www.state. gov/reports/2019-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/saudi-arabia/ (“…courts often punished victims as well as perpetrators… [v]ictims also had to prove that the rape was committed, and a woman’s testimony in court was not always accepted…[m]oreover, most rape cases were likely unreported because victims faced societal and familial reprisal, including diminished marriage opportunities, criminal sanction up to imprisonment, or accusations of adultery or sexual relations outside of marriage, which are punishable under sharia.”). 126 Betsy L. Fisher, Gender Discrimination and Statelessness in the Gulf Cooperation Council States, 23 MICH. J. GENDER& L. 269 (2016). Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjgl/vol23/iss2/1 (“As a result of harsh criminal provisions and societal repercussions, many children in GCC states are simply abandoned in public places.”). 127 UNHCR / April 2021 41