SBOF,
Laws in the UAE are certainly different from those in the west, and if one comes here, you must be aware of this and plan accordingly.
If you owe money and can't pay, it may well be considered a criminal matter where it would only be a civil manner where most of us come from. That debt may well pass on to your family.
The status of women is different than we are used to. Mothers are not considered guardians of children and in the event of a mans death, guardianship of his children passes to a male relative. Wives are not automatically beneficiaries of mens estates, that passes to the Son, with Wives and Daughters entitled to smaller portions.
However, this information is widley available, and if one chooses to come here, it is easy enough to make arrangements to prevent things like this happeneing (really, no more than a current will is required.), and it is advisable for Expats to keep a lot of their assets off shore.
It's different from what you may be used to, and you'd be foolish not to realise and allow for that. But decent and fair are relative terms, and just because one societies perspective is different to yours doesn't make them inferior.