THE CONSTITUTION[1]
OF THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
WE, the Rulers of the Emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Um AI Quwain and Fujairah,
Reflecting our will and the will of the people of our emirates to form themselves into a Federation provide a better life and more enduring stability, and enjoy a higher international standing for the Emirates and all their people;
Desiring to create closer links among themselves in the form of an independent sovereign federal state capable of protecting its existence and the existence of its members and cooperating with the sister Arab states and with all other friendly member states of the United Nations Organization and of the community of nations, in general, on the basis of mutual respect and exchange of interests and benefits;
Desiring also to lay the foundation for federal rule in the coming years on a sound basis that reflects the reality and the capacity of the Emirates at the present time, enables the Federation to achieve its objectives, safeguards the identity of its members in a way consistent with these objectives and, at the same time, prepares the people of the Federation for a dignified and free constitutional life while going ahead towards a full-fledged representative democratic regime in an Islamic and Arab community free of fear and anxiety; and
- ↑ The word “temporary” was deleted by Constitutional Amendment 1/1996. Article (1) of Act 1/1996 provides as follows «There is hereby deleted the word temporary from the Constitution of the United Arab Emirates wherever it exists. The previous title of the Constitution reads as follows “The Temporary Constitution of the United Arab Emirates”..
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