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 25 year old woman was liberated who had been enslaved by the shrine for 20 years, since she was five years old. She was not even aware of the exact offense committed or the family member who was charged, but a series of deaths in the family was attibuted to a curse of the gods because of the alleged crime and the victim was forced to try to atone for the crime by a life of slavery. As Monica grew and learned more about her situation, most traumatic to her was the fact that out of fear, her parents did not even protest. Her story came out during the liberation process.

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), police 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 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) 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

Agave area, Volta Region, Ghana, 2001

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 42 year old woman was liberated who had been enslaved for 32 years, since she was ten years old. She did not know the reason at the time, but her mother later told her that her grandfather was burning some rubbish, the wind shifted, and the neighbor’s thatch roof hut caught on fire. The neighbor went to the shrine and invoked the intervention of the Dzoli god, which is reported to have caused several deaths in the family. The family believed that the only way to stop the deaths was to atone for the accident by sending a young virgin girl to become a slave of the Dzoli god. The victim reports that there were eight other young slave girls in the shrine. She was made to work the priest’s farm with a short-handled hoe, gather firewood, carry water from the river, and carry big pots on her head. Two children were born to her as a result of being raped regularly by the priest. Her story came out in the liberation process.

Needs a 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 Trafficking2001

Ghana, Ghana, 2001

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 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.

Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016