Juliana Dogbadzi

Juliana Dogbadzi is a Ghanaian human rights activist, a victim of Trokosi who now campaigns against this secular practice that sends young women into forced labor, making them live under conditions of slavery to redeem the sins of their relatives.[1][2][3] She established a non-profit organization, International Needs Ghana, that has been actively working for the release of Trokosi victims. Through this organization, over 1,000 slaves have been freed from 15 shrines.[4][5][6]

In 1999, she received the Reebok Human Rights Award.

Biography

When she was seven years old, her parents abandoned her at a shrine[7] to pay for the theft committed by her grandfather, according to the Trojan tradition. She was made to believe that serving as a Trokosi will stop a string of misfortunes from befalling her family. She served under conditions of slavery for about seventeen years, where she was starved, overworked, beaten and prevented from attending school. Around the age of twelve, she was raped by the 90-year-old fetish priest who was the father of her first child.[8][9]

At age 25, she escaped and started a campaign to fight against the practice of Trokosi which had become the target of a national debate in Ghana.[10]

She established a non-profit organization, International Needs Ghana, that has been working for the release of Trokosi victims. Through this organization, over 1,000 slaves have been freed[11] from 15 shrines.[9] In 1999, she received the Reebok Human Rights Award.[12]

References
  1. Gorce, Tammy La (2014-09-19). "The Gandhis and Kings of Our Time". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  2. "A Time for Heroes". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  3. "Camera Works: Truth to Power". www.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  4. "Religious Sex Slavery Endures in West African Nations, Associated Press, carried in Arizona Daily Star, Arizona Daily Star [Ghana], July 1, 2007". www.bishop-accountability.org. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  5. "Speak Truth to Power". Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  6. "Juliana Honorary Planetary Citizen of the Month". gccalliance.org. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  7. "'Wife of the Gods' Stirs Up Ghana". Los Angeles Times. 24 June 1999. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  8. Namibian, The. "Former shrine slave fights entrenched traditional practice". The Namibian. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  9. "UDHR - Heroes". www.universalrights.net. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  10. Simmons, Ann M.; Times, Los Angeles (1999-07-10). "Ghana Fights to End Child Slavery Practice / A girl is given to a priest as `wife of the gods'". SFGate. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  11. EDT, Newsweek Staff On 4/4/99 at 8:00 PM (4 April 1999). "After A Life Of Slavery". Newsweek. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  12. Staff, C. C. P. "Some Cultural Factors for Nondisclosure of Child Sexual Abuse in Ghana – CCP". Retrieved 2019-10-03.
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