United Nations Criminal Tribunal judge Lydia Mugambe – a former Uganda High Court judge, and the recipient of the University of Pretoria’s prestigious Vera Chirwa human rights award in 2019 – has been convicted in Britain of forcing a young woman to work as a slave.
The charge was brought under the Modern Slavery Act.
Mugambe was living in Oxford, where she was pursuing at PhD at Oxford University.
Prosecutors said Lydia Mugambe “took advantage of her status” over her victim by preventing her from holding down steady employment while forcing her to work as her maid and provide childcare for free, the BBC reports.
The 49-year-old 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.
She will be sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on May 2.
Evidence in her trial shed incriminating light on Ugandan deputy high commissioner in Britain, John Leonard Mugerwa, with whom it is alleged she arranged for the young woman to come to the UK.
Prosecutors said the pair participated in a “very dishonest” trade-off, in which Mr Mugerwa arranged for the Ugandan High Commission to sponsor the woman’s entrance into the UK. In exchange Mugambe would attempt to speak to a judge who was in charge of legal action Mr Mugerwa was named in, jurors heard.
When arrested, Mugambe claimed to have diplomatic immunity.
Thames Valley Police commander for Oxfordshire, Ch Supt Ben Clark, said at the time: “Lydia Mugambe is an extremely qualified lawyer, a Ugandan High Court judge and a UN Criminal Tribunal judge.
“After the offences had been reported to the police, Mugambe tried to evade justice by repeatedly claiming she had diplomatic immunity due to her status.
“Any immunity Mugambe may have enjoyed as a UN judge has been waived by the Office of the United Nations Secretary General.”
According to the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria, the Vera Chirwa Award was instituted in 2006 on the occasion of the Centre being awarded the UNESCO Prize. The Vera Chirwa Prize is given to individuals acknowledged for “‘making a difference’ to the protection of human rights or the strengthening of democratisation in Africa”.
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