Sex TraffickingArchive 2008–2016

Sex Trafficking in Adidome, Volta Region (2003)

A sex trafficking case from 2003 in Adidome, Volta Region, Ghana.

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Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). We don’t have a verifiable source on file yet. Know one?

What happened

The practice of ritual or customary servitude was outlawed in Ghana in 1998, but the practical implementation of the law has fallen largely to NGO's who have facilitated the shrines in ending the practice. Two NGO's, Every Child Ministries Ghana and Fetish Slaves Liberation Movement negotiated with the Aklidokpo shrine owners and educated them as to the issues over a span of over a year, finally winning the approval of the shrine for the liberation of all its trokosi slaves on January 22, 2004. The liberation was a public event in which the shrine freed the slaves and agreed to end the practice of ritual servitude in that place. In this case a 20 year old woman was liberated who had been held within the shrine for 15 years. During that time she was raped and gave birth to the priest's child without medical care or any care for the child. Her story came out in the course of the liberation process. She was one of 94 slaves who were liberated that day.

Response and intervention

No one has ever been prosecuted in Ghana under the 1998 law. However, local law enforcement oficers in Ghana as well as CHRAJ (Commission on Human Rights & Administrative Justice) and various government officials cooperated in the liberation and spoke against the practice of trokosi at the liberation ceremony. Emancipation & aftercare: The victims were emancipated in a public and culturally appropriate ceremony. Afterwards they received counseling both immediate and long term, and help in starting their own businesses. Every Child Ministries (ECM) Ghana and Fetish Slaves Liberation Movement One of the main focus points of Every Child Ministries is an anti-slavery/anti-trafficking initiative on behalf of African children. The organization has conducted extensive research into the issue of ritual servitude and follows all the shrines of the area that still hold trokosi slaves. This liberation was one of the fruits of that initiative.

Nearby cases

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Forced Criminality2009

Bawdie, Ghana, 2009

Ghana GH

A resident of Brepro Nkwanta near Bawdie in the Wassa Amenfi East District of the Western Region admitted to attempting to sell a man, a carpenter of the same village for traditional ritual purposes. The Inspector said on June 19, 2007, the complainant received a call from Tekpey who informed him (the complainant) that he lied when he said he wanted him to assist him secure a kiosk, rather he wanted him (the complainant) to assist him sell the man in the Sewfi area where a human head could be exchanged for a KIA vehicle.

Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016

Child Labor2010

Prampram, Greater Accra, Ghana, 2010

Ghana GH

13 people were arrested by police on the outskirts of Prampram in the Greater Accra Region on Aug. 14, 2010, suspected to be trafficking children. Three were drivers of commerical buses. On the spot investigation revealed that the children were probably recruited from towns and villages in the Greater Accra and Volta Regions like ADa, Ningo, Sege, Kporgunor, Lekporgunor and surrounding areas. They are believed to have been bound to Yeji, a fishing village in the Brong Ahafo Region along the northern reaches of the Volta River, for exploitation. The buses carried a large number of passengers, of whom many are believed to be children being trafficked.

Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016

CSEC2002

Ghana, Ghana, 2002

Ghana GH

The practice of ritual or customary servitude was outlawed in Ghana in 1998, but no one has ever been prosecuted under the law. Rather, the practical implementation of the law has fallen largely to NGO's who have facilitated the shrines in ending the practice. Two NGO's, Every Child Ministries Ghana and Fetish Slaves Liberation Movement negotiated with the Aklidokpo shrine community and educated them as to the issues over a span of over a year, finally winning the approval of the shrine for the liberation of all its trokosi slaves on January 22, 2004. The liberation was a public event in which the shrine freed the slaves and their children and agreed to end the practice of ritual servitude in that place. In this case a woman of unknown age was freed having served as a slave in the shrine since she was too young to remember. When she came she was too young to act on her own and was cared for by older slaves until she grew older. She was the third girl enslaved at the shrine in an attempt to atone for the same misdeed. When the priest tried to rape her, she ran away but was soon caught. Again she tried to run away later, but always ended up back at the shrine. She still struggles with fear, feeling that the god of the shrine may kill her at any time and for any reason.

1 sourceArchive 2008–2016