Solomy Balungi Bossa

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Solomy Balungi Bossa (born 14 April 1956) is a Ugandan judge on the International Criminal Court. She was elected to a nine-year term on December 8, 2017 and assumed full-time duty on March 9, 2018. [1] Previously she was appointed to a six-year term on the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights in 2014.

Uganda Republic in East Africa

Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a country in East-Central Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, shared with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda is in the African Great Lakes region. Uganda also lies within the Nile basin, and has a varied but generally a modified equatorial climate.

International Criminal Court Permanent international tribunal

The International Criminal Court is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal that sits in The Hague, Netherlands. The ICC has jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression. It is intended to complement existing national judicial systems and it may therefore exercise its jurisdiction only when certain conditions are met, such as when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute criminals or when the United Nations Security Council or individual states refer situations to the Court.

The African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights is a continental court established by African countries to ensure protection of human and peoples' rights in Africa. It complements and reinforces the functions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.

Contents

Early life and education

Bossa was born on 14 April 1956 in Uganda. [2] She has a Bachelor of Laws from Makerere University and is a candidate for a Master of Laws at the University of London. [3]

Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate law degree in England and most common law jurisdictions—except the United States and Canada— which allows a person to become a lawyer. It historically served this purpose in the U.S. as well, but was phased out in the mid-1960s in favour of the Juris Doctor degree, and Canada followed suit. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in Scotland and South Africa.

Makerere University university in Kampala, Uganda

Makerere University, Kampala is Uganda's largest and third-oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922. In 1963, it became the University of East Africa, offering courses leading to general degrees from the University of London. It became an independent national university in 1970 when the University of East Africa was split into three independent universities: University of Nairobi (Kenya), University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), and Makerere University. Today, Makerere University is composed of nine colleges and one school offering programmes for about 36,000 undergraduates and 4,000 postgraduates.

University of London federal public university in London, United Kingdom

The University of London is a federal research university located in London, England. As of October 2018, the university contains 18 member institutions, central academic bodies and research institutes. The university has over 52,000 distance learning external students and 161,270 campus-based internal students, making it the largest university by number of students in the United Kingdom.

Career

Bossa has been a human rights activist since 1980 and founded non-profit organisation including the East African Centre for Constitutional Development, the Uganda Network on HIV, AIDS, Ethics and the Law and the Uganda Law Society. [3] [2]

Bossa was a lecturer at the Law Development Centre of Uganda from 1981 until 1997. [3] She was a legal practitioner from 1988 until 1997, representing indigent women and expanding legal aid, including serving as President of the Uganda Law Society. [4]

Bossa was a Judge on the High Court of Uganda from 1997 until 2013. [3] She was a judge on the East African Court of Justice from 2001 until 2006 and on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda from 2003 until 2013. [3] She was appointed to the Ugandan Constitutional Court in 2013. In 2014, she was one of the judges who annulled Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act for not being passed with the required quorum. [5] She received death threats on social media. [6]

The East African Court of Justice (EACJ) is a treaty-based judicial body of the East African Community tasked to ensure adherence to law in the interpretation and application of and compliance with the East African Community Treaty of 1999. The Court is made up of two divisions: a First Instance Division and an Appellate Division. Its Judges, a maximum of ten in the First Instance Division and of five in the Appellate Division, are appointed by the East African Community Summit, the highest organ of the community, from among persons recommended by the Partner States who are of proven integrity, impartiality and independence and fulfill the conditions required in their own countries for high judicial office, or are jurists of recognised competence.

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda International court established by the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 955

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was an international court established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 955 in order to judge people responsible for the Rwandan genocide and other serious violations of international law in Rwanda, or by Rwandan citizens in nearby states, between 1 January and 31 December 1994.

Social media Internet services for sharing personal information and ideas

Social media are interactive computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks. The variety of stand-alone and built-in social media services currently available introduces challenges of definition; however, there are some common features:

  1. Social media are interactive Web 2.0 Internet-based applications.
  2. User-generated content, such as text posts or comments, digital photos or videos, and data generated through all online interactions, is the lifeblood of social media.
  3. Users create service-specific profiles for the website or app that are designed and maintained by the social media organization.
  4. Social media facilitate the development of online social networks by connecting a user's profile with those of other individuals or groups.

Bossa was appointed to the African Court in September 2014. [7] In 2017, she is a nominee for the International Criminal Court, with elections to be held in December 2017. [4] Bossa is a member of the International Commission of Jurists, the International Association of Women Judges, the East African Judges and Magistrate Association, the National Association of Women Judges, and the Uganda Association of Judges and Magistrates. [2]

Publications

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References

  1. ↑ "judge". www.icc-cpi.int. Retrieved 2018-03-09.
  2. 1 2 3 "Judge Solomy Balungi Bossa". United Nations Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Justice Solomy Balungi Bossa - Uganda". African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights.
  4. 1 2 "Bossa, Solomy Balungi (Uganda)" (PDF). International Criminal Court.
  5. ↑ Wesaka, Anthony (30 September 2014). "We have received public backlash for annulling antigay law- judge". Daily Monitor. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  6. ↑ "Uganda: Judge Who Annulled Anti-Gay Law Faced Death Threats". Mamba. 1 October 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  7. ↑ "Hon. Lady Justice Solomy Balungi Bossa Appointed to the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights". Judiciary of Uganda.
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