diff --git a/tests/utils.h b/tests/utils.h
index 81df350..8638850 100644
--- a/tests/utils.h
+++ b/tests/utils.h
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 #ifndef __TEST_UTILS_H
 #define __TEST_UTILS_H
 
+#include <dlfcn.h>
 #include <inttypes.h>
 #include <sys/mman.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
@@ -43,6 +44,12 @@
 #define KNOWN_FAILURE_ON_BIONIC(x) x
 #endif
 
+// bionic's dlsym doesn't work in static binaries, so we can't access icu,
+// so any unicode test case will fail.
+static inline bool have_dl() {
+  return (dlopen("libc.so", 0) != nullptr);
+}
+
 #if defined(__linux__)
 
 #include <sys/sysmacros.h>