Sex TraffickingArchive 2008–2016

Sex Trafficking in Ghana (2001)

A sex trafficking case from 2001 in Ghana, Ghana.

This page describes exploitation and abuse. Need to report something? How to report →

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 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 International Needs Ghana negotiated with the Gborble shrine 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 31, 2003. 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 50 year old woman was freed who had been slaved for 43 years, since was was seven years old. She was later told her captivity was because her father had sex with another shrine slave. The victim remembers that during her initiation she was dipped into cold water containing smelly herbs, her head was shaved, she was given a rope that she had to wear around her neck to show she belonged to the shrine, and she had to go through a ritual dance. After many years of enslavement in the shrine she was given partial release, but this arrangement did not end her slavery. The shrine still controlled who she married and where she lived and travelled, and she was fined for the least mistake and required to attend the annual festival every year and to bring sacrifices so expensive that getting them together still dominated her life all year long.

Response and intervention

Although no one has ever been prosecuted for involvement in ritual servitude, law enforcement is supportive of the liberation efforts by NGO’s. The liberation was attended by CHRAJ (Committee on Human Rights & Administrative Justice), police and representatives of several government agencies. The victims were emancipated in a public and culturally appropriate ceremony which ended their obligation to the shrine. Afterwards they received direct aid, vocational training, family reconciliation intervention where possible and and counseling both immediate long term. Every Child Ministries Ghana (ECM) www.ecmafrica.org and International Needs Ghana (IN) One of the main focus points of both organizations, Every Child Ministries and International Needs, is an anti-slavery/anti-trafficking initiative on behalf of African children. The organizations have conducted extensive research into the issue of ritual servitude and follow all the shrines of the area that still hold trokosi slaves. This liberation was one of the fruits of that initiative.

Nearby cases

All 37 in Ghana →

Sex Trafficking2001

Ghana, Ghana, 2001

Ghana GH

Gborble traditional shrine priestess and shrine owners enslaved young virgin girls in a practice commonly called trokosi. The government of Ghana calls it ritual or customary servitude. The practice involves both sexual abuse and manual labor and the movement of the girls was strictly controlled by the shrine. The Gborble shrine priest and owners liberated their trokosi slaves on January 31, 2009 and signed a public agreement that the practice of slavery was ended in that place and that they would take in no more slaves. The shrine is located in a group of mud and thatch houses, where the girls were kept in crowded quarters with nothing but a floor to lie on. In this case a 25 year old woman was liberated who had been enslaved by the Gborble shrine since she was six years old—a total of 19 years. She later learned she was there because her grandfather had quarreled over a piece of land and the other party cursed the family at the shrine. When family members later died, it was blamed on this curse. The only way to lift the curse, it was thought, was to give a virgin girl of the family to serve as a shrine slave. At the shrine, she had to keep a big clay waterpot full by carrying water from the river. If it was ever found not full, she would receive no food that day. The victim was very lonely since her family never visited her. She had to work even when she was sick, and felt that no one cared about her. She says it is such a joy to be able to make her own choices now that she has come out of such a cruel system.

1 sourceArchive 2008–2016

Sex Trafficking2001

Ghana, Ghana, 2001

Ghana GH

Gborble traditional shrine priestess and shrine owners enslaved young virgin girls in a practice commonly called trokosi. The government of Ghana calls it ritual or customary servitude. The practice involves both sexual abuse and manual labor and the movement of the girls was strictly controlled by the shrine. The Gborble shrine priest and owners liberated their trokosi slaves on January 31, 2009 and signed a public agreement that the practice of slavery was ended in that place and that they would take in no more slaves. The shrine is located in a group of mud and thatch houses, where the girls were kept in crowded quarters with nothing but a floor to lie on. In this case a 26 year old woman was freed who had been taken into slavery when she was only three years old, left in the care of the older slaves at the shrine. When the victim’ss father and other members of the family died, they inquired at the shrine as to the cause. The priestess informed them that the grandfather had sex with another trokosi slave, and that to make atonement for that misdeed, a young virgin girl would be required from the family to become a shrine slave. She was held at the shrine for five years before she was even permitted to visit home. Her duties included sweeping the compound, gathering heavy firewood from the forest, and ploughing the fields for the priest’s farm with a short-handled hoe. As a trokosi slave, she was forced to go barefoot and was denied education. She often cried when she was other girls wearing normal clothing and going to school.

1 sourceArchive 2008–2016

Sex Trafficking2002

Agave area, Volta Region, Ghana, 2002

Ghana GH

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 International Needs Ghana negotiated with the Dzoli shrine 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 31, 2003. 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 40 year old woman was liberated who had been held as a shrine slave all her life. Her mother had been a slave, and a customary practice called replacement dictates that if a slave dies or runs away, another girl from her family must replace her. This woman was born as a result of rape within the shrine, raised in the shrine, and replaced her mother as a full trokosi upon her death. Her story came out in the course of the liberation process.

Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016