¹ Ameh, Robert, Child Bondage in Ghana: A Contextual Policy Analysis of Trokosi. (Ph. D. dissertation. School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University, 2001) [unpublished].Google Scholar

² See Abotchie, Chris, Social Control in Traditional Southern Eweland of Ghana: Relevance for Modem Crime Prevention (Accra: Ghana Universities Press, 1997)Google Scholar; Gaba, Christian R., “The Religious Life of the People” in Agbodeka, Francis, ed., A Handbook of Eweland vol. 1: The Ewes of Southeastern Ghana (Accra: Woeli Publishing Services, 1997) 85Google Scholar; and Nukunya, G. K., “Social and Political Organization” in Agbodeka, Francis, ed., A Handbook of Eweland: The Ewes of Southeastern Ghana, vol. 1 (Accra: Woeli Publishing Services, 1997) 42.Google Scholar

³ See Abotchie and Gaba, ibid.

⁴ See Ameh, Robert, “Trokosi (Child Slavery) in Ghana: A Policy Approach” (1998) 1 Ghana Studies 40.Google Scholar

⁵ See Greene, Sandra E., Gender, Ethnicity, and Social Change on the Upper Slave Coast: A History of the Anlo-Ewe (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1996) at 87–88.Google Scholar

⁶ Scholars, foreign and local journalists, human rights practitioners, and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) such as the following have all drawn attention to the human rights violation entailed in trokosi practice: see generally, International Needs Ghana, Report of the First National Workshop on Trokosi System in Ghana (Accra, Ghana: International Needs Ghana, 1995)Google Scholar [First National Workshop]; International Needs Ghana, Report of the Second National Workshop on Trokosi System in Ghana (Accra, Ghana: International Needs Ghana, 1998)Google Scholar [Second National Workshop]; and International Needs Ghana, Report of the First West Africa Sub-Regional Workshop on Trokosi (Accra, Ghana, International Needs Ghana 2001)Google Scholar [Sub-Regional Workshop]; Anita Ababio, “The Legal Basis for Abolishing the Trokosi System” in First National Workshop, ibid. 37; Ameh, Robert, “Trokosi (Child Slavery) in Ghana: A Policy Approach.” (1998) 1 Ghana Studies 35Google Scholar; and Ameh, supra note 1; Amoah, A. E., “1000 Girls Kept As Slave Wives (…) Under Trokosi System” The Mirror (6 March 1993) 1Google Scholar; Amoah, A. E., “‘Trokosi’ in Retrospect” Daily Graphic (6 June 1995) 5Google Scholar; Amoah, A.E., “‘Trokosi’ in Retrospect” Daily Graphic (14 June 1995) 5Google Scholar; Amoah, A. E., “The Transformation of Trokosi” Daily Graphic (15 May 1998) 7Google Scholar; Amoah, A. E., “Integrated Approach to Trokosi Menace” Daily Graphic 7 (27 May 1998) 7Google Scholar; Amoah, A. E., “‘Trokosi’ is Illegal, so what?” Daily Graphic (10 November 1998) 7Google Scholar; Azumah, Vincent, “No More! (…) Trokosi Virgins Rebel” The Mirror (16 April 1994) 1Google Scholar; Azumah, Vincent, “Trokosi Priest Attacks Christians” The Mirror (3 June 1995) 3Google Scholar; Azumah, Vincent, “Help Abolish Trokosi Cult” Daily Graphic (24 June 1995) 3Google Scholar; Brooker, Emma, “Slaves of the Fetish” Independent (June 16 1996) 12Google Scholar; Dovlo, Elom and Adzoyi, A. K., Report on Trokosi Institution (Legon-Accra: Department for the Study of Religions, University of Ghana, 1995)Google Scholar; Beth Duff-Brown, “Slavery Still Practiced in Ghana” Associated Press, (9 February 1997), online: AP<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19970209/V000431-020997-idx.htm (retrieved 15 March 1998); French, Howard W., “Ritual Slave of the Fetish Priest” The New York Times (20 January 1997) 1Google Scholar (the same article was reproduced in the The Vancouver Sun (25 January 1997) H11); Walter A. Pimpong, “Welcome Address” in First National Workshop, ibid. 16; Walter Pimpong, “Welcome Address,” in Second National Workshop, ibid. 51; Emile F. Short, “Trokosi—Legal or Illegal?” in First National Workshop, ibid. 22; Emile F. Short, “Securing the Inalienable Rights of Trokosi Women and Children in Bondage” in Second National Workshop, ibid. 73; Short, Emile F., “Harmonizing the Laws, Policies, and Programs to Transform Ritual Servitude in the West Africa Sub-Region” in International Needs Ghana, Report of the First Sub-Regional Worbhop on Ritual Servitude (Accra, Ghana, 2001) 63Google Scholar [First Sub-Regional Workshop]; Bilyeu, Amy Small, “Trokosi — The Practice of Sexual Slavery in Ghana: Religious and Cultural Freedom vs. Human Rights” (1999) 9 Ind. Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 457.Google Scholar

⁷ See Dartey-Kumordzie, Sammy, “Re-defining Hu-Yehweh the Knowledge of Africa and the Various Organs for Development of Human Resources” The Ghanaian Times (1 July 2001) 14Google Scholar; Dartey-Kumordzie, Sammy, “Trokosi or Fiasidi: Pillar of Africa's Survival” Weekly Spectator (15 July 1995) 5Google Scholar; Dartey-Kumordzie, Sammy, Report on Fiasidi-Vestal Virgins (Accra: Hu-Yehweh Society, n.d.)Google Scholar; Dartey-Kumordzie, Sammy, “Origin and the Importance of Troxovi or Fiashidi (Trokosi)” (n.d.) [unpublished]Google Scholar; and Dartey-Kumordzie, Sammy, “The Relevance of Trokosi (Fiasidi) in Modern Ghana” (n.d.) [unpublished].Google ScholarDr.Dartey-Kumordzie, also expressed his views on trokosi in an interview for an article “Trokosi — Virgins of the Gods or Concubines of Fetish Priests?” Progressive Utilization Magazine (1994) 1:1, 2.Google Scholar See also, Mission, AfrikaniaReport of Fact-Finding Mission to Genuine Troxovi Shrines (Accra, Ghana: Afrikania Mission, 1998)Google Scholar; Ameve, Osofo Kofi, “Speech Delivered at a Press Conference Held at the Art Centre” (13 June 2000) [unpublished]Google Scholar; and Ameve, Osofo Kofi, “Address Delivered at the Meeting of the Troxosi Shrines Held at Klikor Unity Park” (10 April 1999) [unpublished].Google Scholar (Both speeches are available at Afrikania Renaissance Mission, Accra, Ghana).

⁸ See Dr. Dartey-Kumordzie, Osofo Kofi Ameve and Afrikania Mission, ibid.

⁹ An-Na'im, Abdullahi Ahmed et al. , eds., Human Rights and Religious Values: An Uneasy Relationship? (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995) “Preface.”Google Scholar

¹⁰ Ibid. at vii–xiii.

¹¹ Ibid. at vii.

¹² Ibid.

¹³ Ibid.

¹⁴ Nagan, Winston P., “The African Human Rights Process: A Contextual Policy-Oriented Approach” in Cohen, Ronald, Hyden, Goran and Nagan, Winston P., eds., Human Rights and Governance in Africa (Gainsville: University of Florida Press, 1993) 87.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Daniel K. Nyagbledsi, letter to the Colonial Secretary of Native Affairs, Accra, (1 November 1919), Accra: National Archives of Ghana ADM. 11/768. I believe more archival material exists on the issue just that researchers have not yet come across it. The Public Records Office in London, U.K. could be a good source of such material, in particular covering the period 1924–1976. I am currently working on a project, “Human Rights, Traditional Practices, and Contemporary Forms of Slavery: a study of Trokosi,’” with the object of filling that gap.

¹⁶ J.T. Furley, Secretary for Native Affairs, letter to the Honorable Commissioner, Eastern Province, Koforidua, (22 November 1919). SNA Case 54/1919. National Archives of Ghana ADM 11/768.

¹⁷ See letter from Captain Price Jones to the Honorable Commissioner Eastern Province, Koforidua, (19 March 1920) Case No. 78/41/09 National Archives of Ghana ADM. 11/768. Shrines, like the Christian church or Moslem mosque, were the centers of religious worship and sacrifice in traditional Ewe society and for those in contemporary Ghana who believe in African Traditional Religion (ATR). Shrine priests are regarded as the link between the gods and the people. Trokosi is a form of religious sacrifice practiced by some shrines for the atonement of sins (crimes) committed by family members. Apart from sacrifices, adherents of ATR go to shrines to seek the favor and blessings of the gods for success in all areas of life including business and other economic activity, family and marital life, and for peace and prosperity of the nation in general. Shrine priests are often consulted in times of sickness, infertility (mainly by women), famine, and other calamities for an understanding and solutions to these problems. For more on the religious life of Ewes, see Gaba, Christian R. “The Religious Life of the People” in Agbodeka, Francis, ed., A Handbook of Eweland: The Ewes of Southeastern Ghana (Accra: Woeli Publishing Services, 1997)Google Scholar and Abotchie, Chris, Social Control in Traditional Sothern Eweland of Ghana: Relevance for Modern Crime Prevention (Accra: Ghana Universities Press, 1997).Google Scholar

¹⁸ Letter from Daniel K. Nyagbledsi to the Colonial Secretary of Native Affairs (19 November 1923) National Archives of Ghana ADM. 11/768.

¹⁹ Letter from the Commissioner of the Eastern Province to the Honorable Secretary for Native Affairs (10 September 1924) Eastern Province No. /87/250/1910 National Archives of Ghana ADM. 11/568

²⁰ Ibid.

²¹ Miers, Suzanne & Klein, Martin, eds., Slavery and Colonial Rule in Africa (London: Frank Cass, 1999) “Introduction” at 4Google Scholar [Slavery and Colonial Rule].

²² See Ezeanya, S.M., “The Osu (Cult-Slave) System in Igbo Land” (1967) 1 Journal of Religion in Africa 35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar In a more recent article, Asamoah-Gyadu, J. “Trokosi and Osu: Cult-Slavery in West Africa — A Christian Response” (1996) 6 Trinity Journal of Church and Theology 12Google Scholar, has shown that the Osu cult-slavery system shares several similarities with the trokosi system in Ghana.

²³ Brown, Carolyn A., “Testing the Boundaries of Marginality: Twentieth-Century Slavery and Emancipation Struggles in Nkanu, Northern Igboland, 1920–29” (1996) 37 Journal of African History 51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

²⁴ See Kwabena Opare-Akurang, Is this the correct order of these names? “The Administration of the Abolition Laws, African Responses and Post-Proclamation Slavery in the Gold Coast” in Slavery and Colonial Rule, supra note 21, 149; and Robertson, Claire, “Post-Proclamation Slavery in Accra: A female Affair?” in Robertson, Claire and Klein, Martin, eds., Women and Slavery in Africa. (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1983) 220.Google Scholar

²⁵ See comments at supra note 15.

²⁶ Mark Wisdom, “The Vision” (Adidome: FESLIM, n.d.). Mr. Wisdom recounted the same vision in my interview with him at Adidome (July 2000).

²⁷ See for example, Wisdom, Mark, “Abolition of Outmoded Customs” Daily Graphic (Monday, 27 August 1984) 3Google Scholar, and Wisdom, Mark, “Abolition of Outmoded Customs II” Daily Graphic (Tuesday, 28 August 1984) 3.Google Scholar In this two-part article, Mark Wisdom liberally used derogatory terms such as “practices of barbarism”, “barbarous act”, “savage state”, “primitive cultural practices”, “primitive custom”, and “fetish priests” in reference to trokosi practice and its adherents.

²⁸ Interview of Mark Wisdom by author (July 2000).

²⁹ Ameh, Robert, “Trokosi (Child Slavery) in Ghana: A Policy Approach.” (1998) 1 Ghana Studies 44.Google Scholar

³⁰ Afrikania Mission, supra note 7. See also Ameh, supra note 1.

³¹ Interview of Sharon Titian by author (August 2000) at Adidome, North Tongu.

³² Ameh, supra notes 1 & 29.

³³ Kokutse, Francis, “Yirenkyi Debunks Outmoded Customs” Ghanaian Times (25 January 1983) 1Google Scholar; Letter from R.Y. Thomas (Principal Secretary) to Mark Wisdom (22 November 1982); Letter from Mark Wisdom to Flight Lieutenant J.J. Rawlings, Chairman of the PNDC (13 November 1982); Wisdom, Mark, “Abolition of Outmoded Customs” Daily Graphic (27 August 1984) 3Google Scholar; Mark Wisdom “Abolition of Outmoded Customs” (28 August 1984) 3.

³⁴ Amoah, A. E., “1000 Girls Kept as Slave Wives Under Trokosi System” The Mirror (6 March 1993) 1.Google Scholar

³⁵ Abebrese, Anthony Tabiri, “Give the ‘trokosi’ girls their freedom now” The Mirror (Saturday, 21 March 1993).Google Scholar

³⁶ Agency, Ghana News, “VR observes OAU Day of the African Child” Ghanaian Times (26 June 26, 1993)Google Scholar; Amoah, A.E., “Forum On ‘Trokosi’ System” Daily Graphic (26 June 1993)Google Scholar; the “Comment” section of the Daily Graphic (26 June 1993) was also devoted to the trokosi issue. (These newspaper cuttings are available in the “trokosi files” at African Women Educationalists (FAWE) library at Achimota, Accra). See also Ahuno, Theodore, “At the ‘Trokosi’ Forum” Our Children (October 1993) 3Google Scholar, and the “Editorial” of that same issue of the magazine.

³⁷ “The Plight of Vulnerable Groups” (1993) 1:2 Ghana Human Rights Quarterly 4 and “Slavery in Ghana” (1993) 1:4 Ghana Human Rights Quarterly 1.

³⁸ Vincent Azumah, supra note 7. See also Azumah, Vincent, “Goats now to Replace Girls As Trokosi Sacrifice” The Mirror (30 April 1994) 1Google Scholar; Azumah, Vincent, “What Next After Trokosi?” Daily Graphic (8 October 1998) 9Google Scholar; Amoah, A. E. and Azumah, Vincent “Trokosi Priests Challenge Patrons” The Mirror (17 June 1995) 3.Google Scholar

³⁹ Kedem, Kosi, “Statement on Vestal Virgins (Trokosi or Fiasidi)” in Republic of Ghana Parliamentary Debates (Tuesday, 24 May 1994) at columns 283–88.Google Scholar This was also reported by Fynn, Debrah & Okyere, Joe “Abolish ‘Trokosi’ System — Kedem” Daily Graphic (25 May 1994) 1.Google Scholar The Ghanaian Times also carried the same news item in its issue of Wednesday, 25 May 1994.

⁴⁰ This was reported in the Ghanaian Times (Friday, 27 May 1994) issue. A letter dated 25 April 1994, from the Office of the President titled, “Petition to Fetish Priests to Permit Trokosi (Slave Girl) to Attend School” addressed to the Chairperson of the Ghana National Commission on Children applauded the efforts of the GNCC in encouraging the Volta Regional Minister to mitigate the effects of the trokosi system. Citing the relevant portions of the Constitution, the letter asked the Chairperson to take legal action against any shrine priest, individual or groups of people contravening the constitution regarding the trokosi practice.

⁴¹ International Needs changed its name in 2001 to Inter-National Needs to reflect the nature of the partnership between its member nations. Most of the factual information about International Needs is obtained from their web site — online: http://www.inter-national needs.com (accessed 12 November 2000).

⁴² See the Vision statement of IN at http://www.inter-national needs.com (accessed 12 November 2000).

⁴³ Factual information about International Needs Ghana (ING) was obtained from a booklet, International Needs, prepared by ING; and a brochure written by Wisdom Mensah, International Needs: Towards the promotion of human rights and community development for the relief of socio-economic problems and cultural injustice (n.d).

⁴⁴ Ibid.

⁴⁵ Interviews of Walter Pimpong, Executive Director, ING, and Wisdom Mensah, Project Officer in charge of ING Trokosi Modernization Project by author (July 2000) [Pimong & Mensah interviews].

⁴⁶ For a report on the liberation ceremony, see Asante, James “Dangme Elders Relax ‘Trokosi’ System” Ghanaian Times (Monday, 29 July 1996) 1.Google Scholar “Ghana: Slave Girls Freed” The African Observer (1–14 August 1996) (The newspaper cutting is available in the “trokosi files” at FAWE's library at Achimota, Accra); and, Dwamena-Aboagye, Angela, “Trokosi Liberation Gives Ray of Hope” Ghanaian Times (9 October 1996) 6.Google Scholar A statement was also made in Parliament to announce the first mass liberation of trokosis in Ghana; see Republic of Ghana Parliamentary Debates (Official Report) (2 August 1996) at column 1376.

⁴⁷ Yartey, Theophilus, “40 Girls and Women Offered Freedom” Weekly Spectator (30 November 1996).Google Scholar

⁴⁸ While the exact number of trokosis in Ghana is not known as the practice is shrouded in mystery and secrecy, the census taken in the important study of Dovlo, Elom and Kufogbe, S. K., Baseline Survey on Female Ritual Bondage in Ghana: the Geographical Spread and Count of Victims (Accra, International Needs Ghana, 1997)Google Scholar, which pegs the number of known trokosis at 4714, is regarded as the most reliable by researchers and human rights activists. ING commissioned Dovlo and Kufogbe to do the study, which was funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). This manuscript is available at the office of the ING in Accra, Ghana.

⁴⁹ See US State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Ghana: Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2003, online: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27730.htm (accessed 21 March 2004).

⁵⁰ The two Trokosi Vocational Training Institutes are located at Adidome, in the North Tongu Traditional Area. Sharon Titian runs the other one.

⁵¹ “Opponent of ‘fetish slavery’ in Ghana will visit B.C.” Christian Info News (May 1995) 11.

⁵² Pimpong & Mensah interviews, supra note 45.

⁵³ First National Workshop, supra note 6.

⁵⁴ Pimpong & Mensah interviews, supra note 45. For a report on some of the seminars at Volo, Dorfor, and Adidome see “National Workshop on ‘Trokosi’ planned” Ghanaian Times (20 May 1995) 1; “Workshop on Trokosi in July” Daily Graphic (20 May 1995) (available in the “trokosi files” at FAWE's library at Achimota, Accra); Vincent Azumah, “Trokosi Priest Attacks Christians” The Mirror (3 June 1995) (available in the “trokosi files” at FAWE's library at Achimota, Accra); Amoah, A.E. & Azumah, Vincent, “Trokosi Priests Challenge Patrons” The Mirror (17 June 1995) 3.Google Scholar See also, ING Workshop for Paramount Chiefs and Queen Mothers in North, South Tongu, and Akatsi Districts (Accra, Ghana: International Needs Ghana, 1996).Google Scholar This was a report of three separate workshops organized by ING for (i) Paramount Chiefs and Queen mothers of North and South Tongu Districts at Sogakope, (ii) Paramount Chiefs of Akatsi District at Akatsi, and (iii) for Queen mothers of Tongu Traditional Area at Adidome. Full details are in the reports of the ING national and international workshops and conferences on trokosi see First National Workshop, Second National Workshop, and Sub-Regional Conference, supra note 6.

⁵⁵ Walter Pimpong, Posting to Okyeame, a Ghanaian Internet discussion forum (7 December 1997) online: http://www.okyeame.net/okyeame.

⁵⁶ Osofo Kofi Ameve, Sammy Dartey-Kumordzie and Afrikania Mission, supra note 7.

⁵⁷ Interviews of Togbe Anipati IV, Paramount Chief of Mepe Traditional Area and President of the Tongu Paramount Chiefs Association and Mama Adokuwa Asigble, Queen mother of Tongu by author (August 2000).

⁵⁸ Interview of Togbe Anipati IV, ibid., For example, citing a nuclear engineer who is a native of Tongu, Togbe lamented the number of professionals the community has likely lost as a consequence of trokosi practice that prevents some children from going to school.

⁵⁹ Pimpong & Mensah interviews, supra note 45.

⁶⁰ Some Shrine Priests and Elders whose trokosis were liberated before the passage of the law received generous compensation packages such as several herds of cattle, corn mills and huge sums of money.

⁶¹ Second National Workshop, supra note 6.

⁶² Sub-Regional Conference, supra note 6.

⁶³ Ameh, supra note 1.

⁶⁴ See First National Workshop, supra note 6.

⁶⁵ Republic of Ghana, “Oral Answers to Questions, Minister of Employment and Social Welfare” Parliamentary Debates (Official Report) (4 February 2000) at column 1178Google Scholar; See also the electronic report of the same by Ghana Review International, “Criminalizing ‘Trokosi’ is not enough — Mumuni” (7 February 2000) online: http://www.mclglobal.com (accessed 8 February 2000).

⁶⁶ Shaffer, Martha, “Criminal Responses to Hate-Motivated Violence: Is Bill C-41 Tough Enough” in Larsen, Nick and Burtch, Brian, Law in Society: Canadian Readings (Toronto: Harcourt Brace Canada, 1999) 302.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Ibid. at 324.

⁶⁸ An-Nai'm, supra note 9.

⁶⁹ Nagan, supra note 14.

⁷⁰ See comments at supra note 48.

⁷¹ Some of these were discussed in my paper, Robert Ameh, “Lessons from the Anti-Trokosi Campaign” in Sub-Regional Conference, supra note 6, 44.

⁷² Interview of Emile Short, Commissioner (Head) of Ghana's Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice by author (July 2000). For the record of these presentations at workshops and conferences see, First National Workshop, Second National Workshop and Sub-Regional Workshop, supra note 6. Mr. Short delivered the Keynote Address at the Second National Workshop on Trokosi, the Sub-Regional Workshop, and at several trokosi liberation ceremonies.

⁷³ For reports on the Sentinelles liberation ceremony, which took place in October 1996, see Ghana News Agency, “40 Trokosi Slaves Set Free” Daily Graphic (26 October 1996)Google Scholar; Afari, Richard, “Trokosi Slaves Freed — but Apprehensive Over What Happens Next” Public Agenda (4–6 November 1996)Google Scholar (available in the “trokosi files” at FAWE's library at Achimota, Accra).

⁷⁴ For a report on the involvement of Sentinelles in the anti-trokosi campaign, see Amoah, A. E., “The Transformation of Trokosi” Daily Graphic (15 May 1998) 7.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ Interview of Emile Short, supra note 72. Wisdom Mensah, the Project Officer of ING, also confirmed this story when I interviewed him (July 2000).

⁷⁶ The IN Mission statement is posted at IN's official website online: http://www.international needs.com (accessed 12 November 2000).