Information specific to recruitment practices and on the profile (age, marital status) of women enlisted as priestesses for the Samotoa-we clan of the Ga-Adangbe tribe fetish cult in the Prampram and Tema area of Ghana, and on the frequency of the practice of female circumcision /genital mutilation (FGM) among the fetish cults in the Tema area, could not be found among the sources currently available to the Research Directorate.

However, according to Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 1997 (1998), female genital mutilation (FGM), which is practised "mostly in Muslim communities in the far northeastern and northwestern parts of the country" is a serious problem in Ghana (5 Feb. 1998 Internet]. Country Reports further states that FGM became a criminal act in 1994. The DIRB's Question and Answer Series Ghana: Update on the Fourth Republic states that "information regarding the extent to which FGM is practised by any particular social or ethnic group is limited" (Sept. 1994).

For information on violence against women, including FGM and other traditional practices, and legal and social support systems available to female victims of violence, please consult the DIRB's Question and Answer Series Ghana: Update on the Fourth Republic, September 1994, pages 13-17, which is available at Regional Documentation Centres.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate 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.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1998.1997. United States Department of State. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office [5 Feb 1998 Internet].

Documentation, Information and Research Branch (DIRB), Immigration and Refugee Board, Ottawa. September 1994. Ghana: Update on the Fourth Republic.

Africa Confidential [London]. Weekly

Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series [London]. Monthly.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1996. 1997.

The Europa World Year Book 1996. 1996. 37th ed. Vol. 2. London: Europa Publications.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports. 1996.

Keesing's Record of World Events [Cambridge]. 1996-1997.

New African [London]. Monthly.

West Africa [London]. Weekly.

Electronic sources: IRB Databases, LEXIS/NEXIS, Internet, World News Connection (WNC).

Three oral sources consulted did not provide information on the requested subject.