
Adultery Laws Around The World
Adultery is sex outside of marriage considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds.
Historically, many cultures have considered adultery a serious crime, subject to severe punishment including capital punishment, mutilation, or torture. Such severe punishments are now rare as adultery has been decriminalized in most countries through the 20th century. In the small number of countries where adultery is still a criminal offense, punishments range from fines to caning and even capital punishment. Both historically and currently, the punishment for adultery may vary between women and men; the discrimination may be further exacerbated by differences in the required burden of proof to prove ones innocence.
Even in countries that have decriminalised adultery, it may still have legal consequences, particularly in jurisdictions with fault-based divorce laws, where adultery almost always constitutes a ground for divorce and may be a factor in divorce settlement.
Key representatives from the United Nations have stated that: “Adultery must not be classified as a criminal offence at all” and a joint statement by the United Nations Working Group on discrimination against women in law and in practice states that: “Adultery as a criminal offence violates women’s human rights“.
Most countries that criminalize adultery are those where the dominant religion is Islam, and some Sub-Saharan African Christian-majority countries, but there are some notable exceptions to this rule, namely Philippines, and several U.S. states. In Muslim countries that follow Sharia law, the punishment for adultery may be stoning although it rarely has been applied in recent years.
In the infographic you can see which countries still criminalize adultery. The right-hand side contains a table comparing adultery laws, the Human Development Index score and whether has a majority Muslim population or not.
Perhaps interestingly, adultery remains an offence in 19 states of the United States, State criminal laws against adultery are rarely enforced.
You can find more information regarding adultery from these links:
Inter Press Service – IPS
United Nations Human Rights
Wikipedia
The News Lens – regarding adultery in Taiwan
Insider.com