| Honorific-Prefix: | Honorable |
| Solome Bossa | |
| Office: | Judge of the International Criminal Court |
| Term Start: | 9 March 2018[1] |
| Birth Date: | 14 April 1956 |
| Birth Place: | Nsambya Hospital, Uganda |
| Nationality: | Ugandan |
| Alma Mater: | Makerere University Law Development Centre Commonwealth Youth Centre University of London |
Solome Balungi Bossa (also Solomy Balungi Bossa; born 14 April 1956) is a Ugandan judge on the International Criminal Court (ICC). Prior to her election to the ICC, she was a member of the Court of Appeal in Uganda, which also doubles as the Constitutional Court in the Judiciary of Uganda. She was elected to a nine-year term on 5 December 2017[2] [3] and was sworn in on 9 March 2018.[1] Previously she was appointed to a six-year term on the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights in 2014.
Solome Bossa was born on 14 April 1956 in Nsambya Hospital, in Uganda's capital city of Kampala.[4] Her father, Stanley Walusimbi Ssesanga, was a lawyer and her mother was a housewife.[5] [6]
Bossa attended Ugandan schools for her primary and secondary school education. In 1976, she was admitted to Makerere University, in Kampala, to study law. She graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree in 1979. She obtained a Diploma in Legal Practice from the Law Development Centre in Kampala. In 1987, she obtained a Certificate in Law Reporting, from the Commonwealth Youth Centre, in Lusaka, Zambia. Later, in 2016, she was awarded a Master of Laws (LLM) degree, by the University of London, specializing in Public International Law.[7] [8]
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.[9] [4]
Bossa was a lecturer at the Law Development Centre of Uganda from 1981 until 1997.[9] 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.[10]
She served as Judge at the Uganda High Court from 1997 until 2013. Bossa was a member of the East African Court of Justice for five years, from 2001 until 2006. She was a member of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (UNICTR) from 2003 until 2013.[7] [8] [6] [9] Bossa 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.[9] She was appointed to the Ugandan Constitutional Court in 2013.[6] In 2014, Bossa was elected Judge of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, for a six-year term.[11]
In 2014, Bossa was one of the judges who annulled Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act for not being passed with the required quorum.[12] She received death threats on social media.[13]
In 2017, Bossa became a nominee for the International Criminal Court and was elected later that year.[10]
Bossa is married to Joseph Bossa, a lawyer and Uganda People's Congress politician, since 1981. She is the mother of four children.[5] [14]