“Slaves of the Gods” - Vulnerability to Trafficking: Labor and Sexual Exploitation of Women and Girls Among the Ewe Communities in Ghana

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This contribution explores how cultural religious beliefs and practices of the Trokosi institution engender vulnerability to the recruitment of girls into bonded life, sexual and labor exploitation, and trafficking in Ghana. Here, trafficking and exploitation are conceptualized at three levels: (a) the family level where young girls are taken away from home through deception, false promises, abduction, threats, or coercion and moved elsewhere (e.g., from rural areas to towns); (b) intra and inter-community transfers; and (c) moving women and girls through marriage arrangements organized within the Trokosi (“slaves of the gods”) practice. The girls are often deceived about the destination, or their transfers are carried out through forced marriage arrangements. The above practice of transferring girls from one place to another and their sexual and labor exploitation fall within the UN Palermo Protocol definition of human trafficking and the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 29, respectively. This study therefore aims to enhance our understanding of how the underlying patriarchal power relations and violence against women, underpinned by traditional religious beliefs and practices in the Trokosi institution, perpetuate bondage, labor, and sexual exploitation and aid trafficking of children and young women among the Ewe communities of Ghana.