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.
Location
Ghana · Ghana · 2002
(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), 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.
Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). We don't have a verifiable source on file yet — use “Report a problem” below to add one.