The United Arab Emirates includes Hindi as the third official court language; a move that will improve Indian community’s access to country’s judicial system.
Abu Dhabi has included Hindi as the third official language to be used in the courts, together with English and Arabic. The momentous decision is being touted as a part of country’s efforts to improve access to the judicial system.
The move would supposedly support the Indian community currently residing in the UAE, improving their understanding and access to different judicial procedures. In 2013, the reported population of UAE was 9.2 million, in which 7.8 million are expatriates and 1.4 million are Emirati citizens. With the close to 27.8%, the largest expatriate presence in the UAE is Indian.
According to the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD), the move will help Hindi speakers in garnering better understanding of the litigation procedures and their rights, surpassing the language barriers.
Yousuf Saeed Al Abri, Undersecretary of the ADJD, said the extension of the adoption of interactive forms in several languages was to ensure the development of a judicial system that plays a pivotal role in attracting foreign investments and enhancing the emirate’s status as an attractive business environment as well as a destination for skilled labour.
In another decision to support expatriate labour class in the country, ADJA last year, also announced the opening of a special labour court in the capital city to specifically hear cases related to workers and contracting parties.