As someone said above, putting the moral and ethical implications aside, the issue may not be as straight forward as “just not returning to the UAE”.
According to friends (yes, more than one) of mine the UAE debt can be sold to collection agencies (in these cases, the UK). The UAE bank gets some pennies on the dollar and can then wash their hands of the situation bar the insurance claim. The debt can then be collected by the said agency in accord with the laws of the home country. On the other hand, the borrower then has all the debt management and repayment options that are available to a debtor in the UK.
The collection firm may well try to work with the debtor as best they can, and that means the debtor could do a DMP, IVA, or go bankrupt and include the account. So, if a debt that originated in the UAE is being collected in the UK, the borrower has all the available debt options in the UK (in this example) at their disposal.
It should be noted that the protection afforded the debtor in an IVA or in bankruptcy etc, generally only pertains to one’s home country. If the debtor were to then return to the UAE they could then be chased for the account, and face the full ramifications of the UAE’s collection process……so little gained.
Furthermore, the collection agency may not be so accommodating. I know of another chap that left the UAE and went to Iran (as an expat), leaving behind a not insignificant loan. His debt was sold to a collection agency but in his case, they hounded him on social media, Facebook, WhatsApp, email, general online trolling, and the like. Some years later it is still going on and still causes him the occasional restless night.
So, there are options available (other than having sleepless nights having done a “runner”) to work out a repayment plan based on what you can afford or be relieved of the debt entirely through insolvency measures.