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. The NGO Every Child Ministries Ghana negotiated with the Sovigbenor 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 126 of its trokosi slaves on December 9, 2005. 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 79 year old woman was liberated who had been enslaved there since she was about one year old.
Location
Togo · Aflao, Ghana · 2008
(location generalized to protect survivors) Response & 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.
The 126 victims and all their children were emancipated in a public and culturally appropriate ceremony. Afterwards they received counseling both immediate and long term, aid with immediate physical needs, and assistance in setting up a small business Those who were too old, like this victim, to start a small business were permitted to allow one of their offspring to receive the help in their stead.
Every Child Ministries (ECM) Ghana http://www.ecmafrica.org/165357.ihtml
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.
Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). Use “Report a problem” below to add a source or flag an issue.