Adaklo Amfoi village could not be located in the Atlas of the World. However, in a 9 February 1998 interview with the Research Directorate, a professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor stated that the Volta region in eastern Ghana is known for a fetish practice known as Trokosi. A 1 April 1997 Reuters report explains that Trokosi are "women given to fetish priests as slaves, usually at an early age, by families who believe they must appease the fetish or spirit of the shrine because a family member committed a crime." The family believes that if the fetish is not appeased, it is capable of sending diseases and other calamities, which will gradually kill the whole family. Reuters reports states that the number of Tokosi in the Volta region is approximately 4,500 excluding their estimated 16,000 children (ibid.).

Reuters further explains that practice is rooted in traditional voodoo beliefs whereby the girls were initially given to the crocodiles or killed. "Later the priests agreed to keep them as slaves, mainly to work the shrine's land, do the priest's housekeeping and share his bed" (ibid.).

According to a 20 January 1997 Ottawa Citizen report, the tradition [trokosi] dates as far back as the 17the century and extends into Togo, Benin and Nigeria, and

stems from a world view that sees justice and punishment in communal rather than individual terms; an individual who has no connection to a crime may be punished to spare others. Similarly, when one person's offence goes unpunished, it is believed, vengeance may be wreaked upon an entire community.

The Ottawa Citizen further states that the girls are not recruited or captured but given away by their families who share this world view. The girls must be virgins, are considered property of the priest and only the priest can release them. However, the family of the released girl must replace her with another one so as to ensure that the gods remain appeased (ibid.).

According to Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 1997,

Parliament has yet to pass a law explicitly prohibiting Trokosi. The practice persists because of deeply entrenched traditional beliefs, and it is therefore unlikely that any legislative prohibition alone would eliminate the practice. Over the past few years, the CHRAJ [Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice] has conducted an awareness campaign with traditional leaders and practitioners in an effort to bring the practice to an end. The CHRAJ's efforts have been taken in conjunction with an NGO called International Needs, which has had some success in approaching village authorities and fetish priests at 10 of the 76 shrines, winning the release of 474 Trokosi slaves to date, and retraining them for new professions. The organization is working for additional releases. Including work by other organizations, the total number of slaves released was 672 at year's end (sharenet).

The professor at the University of Michigan stated that there are no sanctions against women who do not want to serve as priestesses because the 1992 Constitution of Ghana makes "clear provisions" about women's and children's rights. However, he explained that those working to free Trokosi have had "some difficulty because the girls themselves fear to leave because they believe that someting evil will happen to them." For additional information on the Trokosi, please consult Response to Information Request GHA25263.E of 18 October 1996, 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.

Atlas of the World. 1994. Ninth edition. Toronto: House of Canada Ltd.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 1997. 1998. United States Department of State: Washington, DC.: United States Government Printing Office.

The Ottawa Citizen. 20 January 1997. "Ghana: Religious Tradition Condemns Girls to Life of Servitude: Families Hand Virgins Over to Fetish Priests to Atone for Crimes." (NEXIS)

Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 9 February 1998. Telephone interview.

Reuters. 1 April 1997. Vincent t'Sas. "Ghana: Fetish Priests Free Slaves." (NEXIS)