Sex TraffickingArchive 2008–2016

Sex Trafficking in Ghana (2002)

A sex trafficking case from 2002 in Ghana, 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 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 26 year old woman was liberated who had been sent to be a shrine slave at the age of seven. Supposedly her grandfather had captured and eaten a neighbor’s fowl. This resulted in the neighbor visiting the shrine to place a curse on the offending family. (The curse is never placed on the offender himself, only on the family. Likewise, it is never the offender who pays for the crime, but rather an innocent virgin girl from his family. The offender is virtually always male, the one who pays for the offense virtually always female, or more specifically, a young virgin). When the seven-year old victim arrived at the shrine, she was forced to go through an initiation ceremony in which she was stripped and paraded naked around the town. The victim says she hated life in the shrine, with its long, hard hours of work on behalf of the priest, harsh punishment, constant humiliation, endless taboos and restrictions, and forced worship of the shrine god (in spite of the fact that Ghana officially gives everyone freedom of religion).

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. The victims were emancipated in a public and culturally appropriate ceremony. This victim was one of 264 from three shrines who were liberated in a joint ceremony that day along with their children. Afterwards they received direct aid, family reunification intervention where possible, vocational training and counseling both immediate and long term. This victim received training in soapmaking, which enabled her to set up a small business to support herself. Every Child Ministries Ghana (ECM) and International Needs Ghana (IN) One of the main focus points of these NGO’s 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 with the goal of gradually eradicating the practice and rehabilitating its victims. This liberation was one of the fruits of that initiative.

Nearby cases

All 37 in Ghana →

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 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 40 year old woman was liberated who had been held within the shrine for 8 years, from the ages of 5-13 years of age. During that time she was raped and gave birth to the priest's child without medical care or any care for the child. She was later allowed to live outside the shrine under the condition that her life and movements be strictly controlled by the shrine and that she bring expensive offerings to the annual festival. This usually took most of her wages. Her story came out in the course of the liberation process.

Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016

CSEC2008

Agave area, Volta Region, Ghana, 2008

Ghana GH

The Adzimu shrine priestess and owners admittedly practice a form of slavery commonly called trokosi, but called customary or ritual servitude by the Ghana government. It is a combination of sexual and labor slavery and somewhat akind to servile marriage, because the girls are thought to be married to the gods of the shrine and sex with the priest or elders of the shrine is considered sacred because his (their) genitals are devoted to the deities of the shrine. About 16 girls are believed to be in bondage within the confines of the shrine, with about 600 living outside the shrine in involuntary subservience to the shrine. This practice permits girls to live outside the shrine under certain strict conditions and controls, including payment of a very expensive sacrifice at the annual festival. Adzimu is a head shrine having jurisdiction over three others.

Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016

Sex Trafficking2002

Agave, 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 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 30 year old woman was liberated who had been held within the shrine for five years, from the ages of 7 to 12 years of age. She was a replacement for her sister who had also been sent to serve as a shrine slave at a very young age but did not long survive the harsh conditions of life there. In the Dzoli shrine girls were usually taken in when the priest claimed through divination that a crime had been committed in their family. In this case the grandfather was accused of having sex with another of the priest’s slaves. In the shrine, the slave rose at 4 a.m. and spent her days cracking palm nuts from which the older slaves extracted palm oil. This the priest sold for money without ever sharing any of the proceeds with his slaves. After a time the shrine learned that a man wanted to marry her. She was so happy that she danced about, but this arrangement did not end her slavery. The shrine still controlled who she married and where she lived and travelled, and she was 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. Her story came out in the course of the liberation process.

Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016