The 70-year-old Ugandan is one of the ICC judges sanctioned by Washington due to the court’s ongoing investigations involving the United States and Israel
Natalia Junquera, El Pais, 12 July 2026
Solomy Balungi Bossa, 70, is a Ugandan appeals judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC). She’s one of the judges who have been sanctioned by President Donald Trump for conducting investigations involving the United States and Israel.
She recently participated in an event in Madrid that was part of a campaign organized by the Eumans civic movement and No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) — supported by six Nobel laureates — to defend the work of international justice. Before joining the ICC in 2018 for a nine-year term, Bossa worked at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
Question. During a public event, you once said: “I became a judge to help women.” What’s the first instance of discrimination you remember?
Answer. The Uganda Women Lawyers Association had a legal aid project for women who had problems with the law and who were indigent. It’s really the first time I realized the dire situation in which women find themselves, for no fault of their own. Society is structured like that.
I represented a client who was a nurse and the man said, “Don’t go to work. Sit around and look after the children.” So she quit her career. Then, the man turned against her. He sold all their property. We were in and out of court.
One woman came to us and said: “I have AIDS. I was infected by a man who died and now his family says I killed him. They want to throw me and the children out of the house. I have nowhere to go.”
This experience exposed me to the structural problems of our patriarchal society. The law isn’t very helpful, either. At that time, divorce grounds were different for men and women. Women were prevailed upon not to complain, even when there was domestic abuse. It still happens.
When I became a judge, I thought I could make a difference in the pronouncements I made.
Q. You’re an appeals judge at the International Criminal Court. Previously, you worked at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). You’ve received several awards over the course of your career. But do you still feel, from time to time – in work meetings or in your daily life – that there’s someone in the room who undervalues you because you are a woman?
A. Yes. That has never stopped. It depends on the man you are interacting with, of course. You come across countries and laws that govern the entire world, and they’re skewed in favor of men. This is a continuous struggle for women. We’re not seen in the same way as men on the international scene. In fact, I believe that, in the International Criminal Court, we’re [only] there because they made specific rules to ensure gender representation.
Q. A judge accumulates many human stories. Of all the ones you’ve heard throughout your career, is there one that particularly moved you?
A. That’s a difficult question. There are [various cases] of murder, for example. Sometimes it’s the force or the cruelty that’s unleashed on the victim. Even for domestic crime, it can move you: there’s a case that can stick [in your mind] and you can never forget it. But at the international level, [the cruelty] is so much more magnified. It’s unleashed on so many innocent people, with no signs of contrition from the perpetrators – it really shakes one’s belief in humanity. I would name the Rwandan genocide, because I tried several cases [related to] that situation.
Q. What has your work taught you about human nature?
A. My assessment is that human nature has not changed one bit. We are still unnecessarily cruel, selfish. I don’t know how to describe our situation. But also, there’s a lot of good that good people do. Unfortunately, the bad things outshine the good.
Q. Last year, the Trump administration sanctioned you and your fellow colleagues at the International Criminal Court following separate investigations linked to American and Israeli officials in Afghanistan and Gaza. What exactly do these sanctions entail? And how do they affect you personally, the ICC and the NGOs that you collaborate with on the ground?
A. These sanctions are a disaster. First of all, they’re a shock to us as professionals doing our work. Secondly, they don’t [bode] well for the course of international justice. Judges should not be punished for doing their work. Even internet banking becomes difficult, because you can’t update any app [or transfer money]. All [the banking apps] are related to the U.S. system.
Q. And do these sanctions also have an impact on the Gazan population?
A. Sanctions do have an impact on Gaza’s population. [They have] an impact because judges feel coerced. If the people who investigate these crimes – [the people] who would be able to provide the evidence – are sanctioned and they cannot assist the prosecutor, what does that tell [us] about law and order in the world? It is a threat to the individual judges. It’s a disaster for the victims of international crime.
Q. What do you think Trump was trying to achieve with that decision?
A. Our interpretation isn’t very different from what governments have told us: they want to see a change of attitude. That means that they want us to decide the cases as they want them to be decided. But that’s not our duty. Our duty is to decide the cases based on the facts and the law.