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UN judge convicted under modern slavery act

A Ugandan and United Nations judge has been convicted in Britain of forcing a young woman to work as a slave while she studied for a PhD at Oxford.

Lydia Mugambe was appointed in 2023 to be a judge of the UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, which performs functions of previous tribunals relating to war crimes committed in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

British prosecutors said Mugambe (49), used her status in the "most egregious way" in deceiving tricking a young Ugandan woman to come to Britain in 2022 to work as a maid without payment.

"Mugambe used her knowledge and power to deceive (the woman) into coming to the UK, taking advantage of her naivety to deceive and induce her into working for her for nothing," prosecutor Caroline Haughey told jurors at Oxford Crown Court (14 March).

Mugambe was charged under Britain's 2015 Modern Slavery Act with conspiring with John Leonard Mugerwa, who was then Uganda's deputy high commissioner, to facilitate the commission of a breach of immigration law.

Prosecutors said Mugambe and Mugerwa, who was not on trial, provided false information that the woman would work at the High Commission in order to bring her into the country.

Conspiracy to intimidate a witness

Mugambe was also charged with facilitating travel with a view to exploitation, forcing someone to work and conspiracy to intimidate a witness, to which she pleaded not guilty, Reuters reported.

Mugambe, who told the court she had never exploited the woman, was convicted of all four counts. She will be sentenced at a later date.