Trokosi ritual servitude of girls (~1,400)

Cited record

Sources

African Women's Development Fund. 'Trokosi: The current state of ritual servitude in Ghana', AWDF. Available at: awdf.org (Accessed: 14 July 2026).

Ritual servitude of girls persists as a living institution. In Ghana's Volta Region, the trokosi system holds girls as 'wives of the gods' to atone for family offences: 'Tro means deity and kosi means slave or wife so Trokosi translates as slave or wife of the deity. The practice of Trokosi involves holding young girls in servitude to appease the deities whom their families have offended... Although the Trokosi system, alongside all traditional and cultural practices that violate the constitution of Ghana[,] was banned in 1998[,] the practice is still very much alive.' One study estimated the number of victims at roughly 1,400.

un treaty body · concluding observations United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding observations on the combined third to fifth periodic reports of Ghana, CRC/C/GHA/CO/3-5 (adopted 20 May 2015).

The Committee's own concluding observations, retrieved from the United Nations documents system and read in full. Under the heading 'Trokosi (ritual servitude)', paragraph 39 records that 'although the practice of trokosi has been criminalized in the State party since 1998, the Committee is deeply concerned about its continued prevalence, especially in rural and traditional communities, and the fact that not one case has been reported and investigated'. Paragraph 40 urges Ghana to prevent and eliminate the practice, to 'ensure that all children that are subjected to the practice are immediately released', to raise awareness 'among families, traditional and religious leaders, teachers and the general public', to 'ensure that cases of trokosi are promptly investigated and prosecuted', and to establish protective mechanisms with access to rehabilitative services and legal redress. Elsewhere the same document lists the trokosi system alongside quarrying and the so-called 'prayer camps' among settings of child exploitation.