Lydia Mugambe is a Ugandan national and former Ugandan and United Nations High Court judge who was jailed in the United Kingdom (UK) for six years for modern slavery on Friday, May 2, 2025.
Mugambe was found guilty in March of four serious offences, which include conspiring to facilitate a breach of UK immigration law, facilitating travel with intent to exploit, forcing someone to work, and conspiracy to intimidate a witness.
Further, Mugambe was charged under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act with conspiring with John Leonard Mugerwa, then Uganda’s deputy high commissioner, to get the victim into Britain by lying on her visa application.
She was granted immunity by the UN, but it was later waived, allowing the prosecution to continue with the trial.
Lydia Mugambe Pleads Not Guilty
However, Lydia did not plead guilty to the offences. Rather, she remained firm by stating that she never exploited the victim.
Mugambe denied the allegations, claiming that she never forced the young Ugandan woman to perform household chores and insisted she had always treated her with kindness, compassion, and patience.
She had promised her househelp a legitimate job upon arrival but later subjected her to emotional abuse and confiscated her documents.
Also Read: Meet Shrewd Businessmen Behind the Success of Betika Betting Company
Educational Background
Mugambe holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Makerere University, Uganda, a master’s degree in law from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and a master’s degree in law from Lund University, Sweden that she attained in 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.
Also Read: Meet Five Men Who Served as COTU Bosses Before Atwoli
Lydia Mugambe Career Background
Lydia Mugambe has been a Judge at the United Nations since May 2023. Previously, Lydia Mugambe had served as a Judge of the High Court of Uganda since 2013. She also worked at the ICTR, as legal officer within the Chambers Legal Support Section from 2005 to 2010 and as appeals counsel within the Appeals and Legal Advisory Division of the ICTR Office of the Prosecutor from 2010 to 2013.
In 2023, Lydia worked as UN Judge for International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, which performs functions of previous tribunals relating to war crimes committed in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.
Earlier in her career, she was a judicial officer within the Ugandan judiciary from 2000 to 2005.
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.
Follow our WhatsApp Channel and X Account for real-time news updates.
