According to a 2 August 1996 Inter Press Service (IPS) report, "Trokosi" is a practice that is limited to southeastern Ghana. The custom or system was reportedly introduced by community elders about 100 years ago, as a way for families to atone for their past wrongs (ibid.).

According to a 16 June 1996 report in The Independent report, "Tro" means god and "Kosi" can be translated as virgin, slave or wife. This source claims the practice can be found in at least 12 shrines in Ghana and "scores of others in Togo and Benin" (ibid.).

According to the 2 August IPS report,

Usually, when members of a family die one after the other in circumstances seen as mysterious by their relatives, the latter consult a traditional shrine. The usual response from the priest there is that a member of the family had secretly committed a crime like murder, theft or rape, or had violated taboos of the clan, and that this required the "sacrifice" of a virgin.

According to The Independent, virgins are taken from families at a very early age and confined to shrines for life; "most of the Trokosi women are condemned to a lifetime of hard labour, sexual servitude and perpetual childbearing at the service of the village priest" ( 16 June 1996). The women reportedly work hard to cultivate land and produce food, but they "do not enjoy the fruits of their labour "(ibid.). The women and their families are left to fend for themselves, even pay for their (the Trokosi's) eventual funeral, and when a Trokosi dies, her family is reportedly expected to replace her with another female virgin (ibid.).

According to IPS, in 1991, many rights groups, including the National Council on Women and Development (NCWD), protested against this practice (2 Aug.1996). The issue was reportedly raised again( without success(at a 1992 consultative assembly responsible for the country's constitution (ibid.).

The Church and media also took up the issue, to the great exasperation of traditional priests, who reportedly threatened to kill the journalist who had exposed the story, for interfering with their culture (ibid.). This source further states that the government procrastinated and suggested counselling education for the priests instead of legislation because southeastern Ghana is stronghold of support for the government (ibid.).

The source further alleged that more than 60 women, some of whom had been virtual slaves for over 40 years, were recently freed in Ada, about 80 kilometres from Accra (Ibid.). The IPS report concludes that this practice is becoming history, although it does not state when and whether this practice was legally outlawed (ibid.)

Information on whether a runaway slave could avail herself of the protection of the authorities in the big cities could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB. According to the 16 June 1996 report in The Independent, however, head of state, Jerry Rawlings "has spoken of the Trokosi as an important part of Ghana's cultural heritage." This source claims Trokosi is still common in the rural east, and that the Christian campaigns to have it outlawed "led to Trokosi becoming more deeply entrenched" (ibid.). For corroboration and additional information on this subject, please consult the attached documents.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Inter Press Service (IPS). 2 August 1996. Edward Ameyibor. "Ghana(Human Rights: Slave Girls Freed." (NEXIS)

The Independent. [London]. 16 June 1996. Emma Brooker. "Slaves of the Fetish." (NEXIS)

Inter Press Service (IPS). 2 August 1996. Edward Ameyibor. "Ghana(Human Rights: Slave Girls Freed." (NEXIS)

The Independent. [London]. 16 June 1996. Emma Brooker. "Slaves of the Fetish." (NEXIS)

The Ottawa Citizen. 11 November 1995. Leslay Saunders. "Ghana: Africa's Sex Slave Starting to Fight Back." (NEXIS)

The Sunday Times.[London]. 30 October 1994. "Village Children of Eight Forces into Life of Sex Slavery in Ghana." (NEXIS)