A Ugandan judge has been jailed for six years and four months after being convicted of forcing a young Ugandan woman to work as a slave in Britain.
Mugambe, a High Court judge , denied forcing the young woman to do household chores and claimed she “always” treated her with love, care and patience.
Lydia Mugambe, 50, was found guilty of conspiring to facilitate the commission of a breach of UK immigration law, facilitating travel with a view to exploitation, forcing someone to work, and conspiracy to intimidate a witness after a trial at Oxford Crown Court.
The trial was told Mugambe forced her victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to work as her maid and provide free childcare while preventing her from holding down steady employment.
Caroline Haughey KC, for the prosecution, said in court: “Lydia Mugambe has exploited and abused , taking advantage of her lack of understanding of her rights to properly paid employment and deceiving her as to the purpose of her coming to the UK.”
Mugambe was appointed to the UN‘s judicial roster in May 2023, according to her UN profile page. That was three months after police were called to her address in Oxfordshire.
Judge Lydia Mugambe has been a Judge of the Mechanism since May 2023. In this capacity, she has been involved in a number of matters as a Single Judge. Aside from her duties with the Mechanism, Judge Mugambe has been serving as a Judge of the High Court of Uganda since 2013.
Previously, she worked at the ICTR, both as legal officer within the Chambers Legal Support Section (2005-2010) and as appeals counsel within the Appeals and Legal Advisory Division of the ICTR Office of the Prosecutor (2010-2013). Earlier in her career, she was a judicial officer within the Ugandan judiciary (2000-2005).
Judge Mugambe is a member of several professional associations, including the International Association of Women Judges, the East Africa Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association, the Uganda Women Judges’ Association, the Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association, and the Oxford Human Rights Hub. She has published and presented on issues of human rights and children’s rights.
Judge Mugambe holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Makerere University, Uganda (1997); a master’s degree in law from the University of Pretoria, South Africa (2002); and a master’s degree in law from Lund University, Sweden (2004).
She was called to the Ugandan Bar in 1998 and is currently a doctoral researcher in law at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. Judge Mugambe is fluent in English and has an understanding of French.