Lydia Mugambe, a Ugandan lawyer who served as a High Court Judge in Uganda beginning in 2013 and later as a judge of the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) since May 2023, was convicted on March 13, 2025, at Oxford Crown Court on multiple criminal charges tied to a modern slavery case in the United Kingdom, as reported by The Gateway Pundit.
The convictions included conspiracy to facilitate a breach of UK immigration law, arranging travel with a view to exploitation, requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labor, and conspiracy to intimidate a witness.
Mugambe had also previously been a fellow at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights in 2017 and was pursuing a doctorate in law at Oxford University at the time the offenses occurred.
UN JUDGE ARRESTED FOR KEEPING A WOMAN IN SLAVERY—TRIED TO CLAIM IMMUNITY!
Lydia Mugambe, a UN tribunal member and Ugandan High Court judge, has been CONVICTED in the UK for modern slavery offenses. She lured a young woman to Britain under false pretenses—then forced her… pic.twitter.com/Mh1ozWmSZk
— Jim Ferguson (@JimFergusonUK) March 14, 2025
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According to court findings, Mugambe met the victim in Uganda when the woman was 19 years old and employed her as a nanny and maid.
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When Mugambe later relocated to the UK on a Tier 4 student visa, which did not allow her to sponsor a worker, she arranged for the victim to travel to the UK to continue working for her.
Because she lacked legal authority to sponsor the visa, Mugambe conspired with John Leonard Mugerwa, who was then Uganda’s Deputy High Commissioner to the UK. Mugerwa agreed to sponsor the victim’s entry through a diplomatic servants scheme.
False employment documents were created, including a Certificate of Sponsorship stating that the victim would work as a paid housekeeper at the Ugandan diplomatic residence.
The court determined the plan from the outset was for the victim to instead live and work unpaid at Mugambe’s private residence.
In exchange for his involvement, Mugambe agreed to assist Mugerwa in a legal case in Uganda where he was a defendant.
Evidence presented in court showed Mugambe attempted to contact the Ugandan judge handling that case multiple times, and later told Mugerwa that the judge “fears talking on the phone,” which the court viewed as evidence she knew the contact was improper.
Mugerwa was not charged after the Ugandan government declined to waive his diplomatic immunity, despite authorization from the Crown Prosecution Service to bring conspiracy charges.
Once in the UK, the victim was required to cook, clean, and provide childcare without pay, receiving only food and accommodation.
Mugambe confiscated the victim’s passport and biometric visa card and restricted her ability to seek outside work. The situation continued until the victim recovered her documents and contacted a friend, who alerted authorities.
Police received a tip on February 10, 2023, reporting that a woman was being held in servitude at Mugambe’s home in Kidlington, Oxfordshire.
After her arrest, Mugambe violated bail conditions by attempting to contact the victim through multiple intermediaries, including her niece, a legal researcher, the victim’s pastor, and the victim’s mother.
UN Judge Lydia Mugambe found guilty of enslaving a fellow African woman and trafficking her to the UK.
Follow: @AFpost pic.twitter.com/e46Fhphzxt
— AF Post (@AFpost) March 14, 2025
Messages recovered from seized electronic devices showed instructions to pressure the victim, including telling her mother to “convince her to stop betraying us.”
In another message, Mugambe wrote that if the victim told police she had dropped the matter, “they have no case to take to court.”
The trial at Oxford Crown Court ran from February through March 2025. At sentencing on May 2, 2025, Judge Foxton determined Mugambe’s culpability was medium, citing planning and premeditation.
Harm was assessed at Category 3, with the victim suffering psychological harm and ongoing fear during approximately eight months of exploitation. The judge found no remorse and described Mugambe’s account as “thoroughly dishonest.”
Mitigating factors included no prior convictions, a record of public service, including receiving the Vera Chirwa Human Rights Award in 2019, character references from judicial colleagues, the impact on her three children aged 8 to 17, and diagnosed mental health conditions.
Mugambe was sentenced to a total of six years and four months in prison, including five years and six months on the lead trafficking count, concurrent sentences for immigration and forced labor offenses, and an additional consecutive ten months for witness intimidation.
She will serve up to half the sentence in custody, with the remainder on license. She was also ordered to pay $15,300 in compensation and is subject to a restraining order barring contact with the victim.
The victim later described living in fear and isolation in the UK and was granted asylum. The case drew public attention in Uganda, including criticism directed at the victim.
The IRMCT waived Mugambe’s judicial immunity in July 2024 after learning of the investigation and removed her from tribunal duties.
Her profile was later taken down from the IRMCT website, and she has since resigned from her UN position.
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