This article considers the inclusion of the best interests of the child standard in the family law regimes of Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as its implications for our understanding of families in the Persian Gulf region. Specifically, the degree and ends to which the concept of the best interests of the child have been used in formulating the rules governing domestic child law generally, and parental care in particular, will be investigated. As the best interests of the child standard remains a vague and largely undefined legal concept in all three family codes, the analysis will not limit its focus on statutory approaches to reforming child law. More importantly, this article also considers legal practice in child law and the courts’ interpretation of the best interests of the child standard. In doing so, the article: (i.) discusses how the introduction of the best interests of the child standard has served to reform family law on its codification in Bahrain, Qatar, and the UAE; and (ii.) explores what the interpretation of the concept of best interests of the child tells us about changing societal values, family structures, and present-day attitudes towards motherhood and fatherhood in the GCC. I argue that, although the best interests of the child standard has come to influence most aspects of child law in the three countries under review, its usage and meaning remains inconsistent. The concept serves multiple purposes in the area of parental care in particular. What is still missing in all three jurisdictions is a thoroughly grounded and all-encompassing framework to determine the best interests of the child standard and also an understanding of its overall function within family law.

中文翻译：

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海湾合作委员会的家庭法和儿童的最大利益

本文考虑将儿童的最大利益标准纳入巴林、卡塔尔和阿拉伯联合酋长国的家庭法制度，及其对我们理解波斯湾地区家庭的影响。具体而言，将调查儿童最大利益概念在制定一般国内儿童法，特别是父母照料的规则时使用的程度和目的。由于儿童标准的最大利益在所有三个家庭法典中仍然是一个模糊且基本上未定义的法律概念，因此分析不会将其重点限制在改革儿童法的法定方法上。更重要的是，本文还考虑了儿童法中的法律实践以及法院对儿童最大利益标准的解释。在这样做时，文章：（i. ) 讨论了儿童最大利益标准的引入如何有助于改革巴林、卡塔尔和阿联酋的家庭法编纂；(ii.) 探讨对儿童最大利益概念的解释告诉我们关于海湾合作委员会不断变化的社会价值观、家庭结构和当今对母爱的态度。我认为，虽然儿童标准的最大利益已经开始影响三个受审议国家儿童法的大部分方面，但其用法和含义仍然不一致。该概念尤其在父母照料领域有多种用途。