Human rights specialist awaits sentencing
A law PhD student at the University of Oxford has been found guilty of offences related to modern slavery.
Lydia Mugambe, 49, joined Pembroke College, Oxford, in 2020 for a DPhil. In 2021, she was Treasurer in Pembroke’s Middle Common Room (MCR) and is listed in the “Hall of Fame” — but is now in serious hot water after being convicted of requiring a person to perform forced labour, among other offences.
According to a now-deleted page, Mugambe was involved with the Oxford Human Rights Hub. She was also one of 57 “eminent experts in international law and human rights” of the Abidjan Principles on the human rights obligations of States providing and regulating education. As well as serving as a judge in the High Court of Uganda, Mugambe had most recently had been appointed to a UN international war crimes tribunal, in May 2023.
But in February 2023 Thames Valley Police received a report that a woman was being held as a slave by Mugambe.
Police uncovered that the victim was supposed to work for John Mugerwa, the Deputy High Commissioner at the Ugandan Embassy. Instead she became Mugambe’s unpaid domestic maid, nanny, servant, and slave in exchange for assisting Mugerwa in a separate court case ongoing in Uganda.
Commander for Oxfordshire, Chief Superintendent Ben Clark said: “Mugambe used her position of power as well as her knowledge of the law to take advantage of the victim, ensuring that she would become her unpaid domestic servant.”
Police bodycam footage shows Mugambe asserting she had a “diplomatic passport” and “immunity” from arrest. According to Clark, any immunity Mugambe may have enjoyed as a UN Judge has been “waived” by the UN Secretary General.
Bodycam footage shows the moment police arrested Mugambe
Credit: Thames Valley Police via BBC News
Despite his involvement, and facilitating the visa obtained by Mugambe, John Mugerwa couldn’t be charged due to diplomatic immunity — which the Ugandan government refused to waive.
Following a three-week trial, a jury found Mugambe guilty on all four charges. On 13 March 2025 she was convicted at Oxford Crown Court of: arranging or facilitating travel of another person with a view to exploitation; requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour; conspiracy to intimidate a witness; and conspiring to do an act to facilitate the commission of a breach of UK immigration law by a non-UK national.
Mugambe is set to be sentenced on 2 May.