Q: What is Trokosi?
A: It is a system by which girls are given to a local priest as penance for a relative's transgression. The 'sin' can be as trivial as gossiping, stealing an earring; anything that goes against the social norm. Girls as young as six years old are sent to the shrine. A ritual is performed when she is handed to the priest signifying she is married to a god. From then on, the girl is the shrine's Trokosi. Although she did not commit any crime herself, she has to work from sunrise to sunset for the priest: She works in his fields, cleans the compound, is forced to have sex with him and to bear his children. But she does not benefit in any way from any of her labours. The food she eats and any possessions she needs have to be provided by her family outside the shrine.

Q: How is a particular girl chosen to be a Trokosi?
A: A family is likely to have more than one girl, so the priest chooses which girl will be the Trokosi by 'divination'. Rarely do you find girls from educated families being enslaved in this way, nor do you find the daughters of key shrine members being forced to become Trokosi.

Q: How did you begin working on this issue?
A: In 1989, a district chief executive of the North Tongu Assembly drew our attention to the issue. Although some work had been done on it, it was limited. International Needs recognised the practice was a serious issue that constituted slavery, and needed to be campaigned against at all levels. In 2001, we jointly held a conference with Anti-Slavery International in Ghana to increase awareness as to why Trokosi was a problem.

Q: How big is the problem today?
A: Even though a law was passed in 1998, stating that children should neither be sent into servitude nor used for ritual purposes - an offence punishable by up to three years in prison - the practice continues. Some priests have only one or two Trokosi; big shrines have many more. Up to 1,500 women and girls could be Trokosi in Ghana today. People believe that the priests have powers and that the spirits of death and misfortune inhabit the shrine. This belief makes the implementation of the law difficult because many fear great harm will come to them if they offend the priests.

Q: How long is a girl held as a Trokosi?
A: Girls are kept in a shrine for anything from three years to the rest of their lives. In one release, we freed a woman who was 85. She had lived as a Trokosi, in the same shrine, since she was five years old. Even after the Trokosi may have served her term and has been able to leave, she continues to be regarded as belonging to the shrine. The priest may do whatever he wants with her when she visits the compound during festivals, and she would have to contribute financially to the upkeep of the shrine. When she dies, a young girl from the same family may replace her.

Q: How do you free them?
A: Initially, we sought to empower Trokosi by providing them with vocational training. But this was not enough because they would return to the priests. To overcome this, we began working directly with the priests, trying to make them aware that the practice is harmful and that there are other ways for people to atone for their 'sins'. Between 1996 and 2003 we helped release 3,500 women from 52 shrines; but the process is very gradual and can take years. When the priest finally decides to let his Trokosi go, two release ceremonies are held: one within the shrine's inner sanctuary and one outside, in front of the public, so all can see the woman is free and no longer a Trokosi.

Once released, we provide counselling and training to help the liberated women adjust to freedom and to live independently. Because they are stigmatised, often they leave their areas to start a new life away from their original communities. We help them by providing micro-credit schemes and medical and psychological help.

Q: How can you stop this system?
A: It is crucial that we work with the priests and through local chiefs to make them aware of the injustice of the system. We are educating priests to accept animals and material items as alternatives. Instead of a family paying a fine for a transgression in the form of giving a girl to the priest, they could instead pay with animals, alcohol or money. How can a system of justice be so unjust? Why not have the offender himself be held to account, not his daughter or granddaughter.

Q: What challenges do you face?
A: There are many. The shrines unwilling to release Trokosi are led by priests who justify this practice. The priests have formed a council and have support from politicians and academics who view efforts to stop this practice as a threat to traditional culture. This is now a very, very powerful lobby group. But we are not advocating the abolition of traditional religion and culture; we are trying to protect the welfare of these women. This practice has a negative impact on the women - they have no choices, and we must give them a choice.

In many cases child begging is only seen as an issue of poverty or the result of abuse. Child Labour Officer Catherine Turner went to Senegal to see an example of when child begging can be slavery and what organisations there are doing to try to tackle it.

On my arrival in Dakar, the capital, I was quickly struck by the large number of children begging around tourist attractions, religious sites and weaving among the throng of cars that make up the city's frequent traffic jams. Some are runaways, begging in order to survive, others beg for their families, and many are talibés.

Although talibé means "Koranic student/disciple", many of these children are used mainly for begging. Their parents, both within Senegal and from neighbouring countries, send them to a daara (residential school) to receive a Koranic education. A large number of these 'schools', however, are far from dedicated to the children's welfare.

Typically, talibés, who are as young as four years old, have to get up at 5.00 or 6.00am, with their day divided by begging and Koranic recital; they go to bed around midnight. There is little chance for other lessons, rest or play. Typically, at least half of their time can be allocated for begging.

The children are assigned daily quotas of what they must raise from their begging, ranging from 200-350 CFA (35-65 US cents) per day and rising to 550 CFA on holy days. They then have to hand it all over to the Koranic master. If they fail to collect the required sum, they may be beaten.

Child begging is slavery when children are sent out to beg by adults who keep and benefit from the proceeds. Although some said the children had to beg to raise money towards their food, clothing and rent, from what I saw and heard, the money does not go towards their upkeep.

It was often hard to see where the money they earned actually went. Particularly as not all of the Koranic masters who run these schools have to pay rent, as they either own the building or occupy semi-built structures. Where clothing was concerned, all talibés wear rags, unlike masters' children who were generally better dressed. The conditions in the daaras were shocking. Most were cramped, housing between 10 and 300 children. In one, I saw 40 children ranging in age from four to 18 having to sleep on the floor in one small room.

There were disturbing signs of their treatment. One boy fearfully confided to a youth worker from the local organisation Enda Graf that he felt sick, but was too scared to tell the master. Thanks to the organisation, he was given help; it turned out he was dangerously ill.

Successful campaigning in the 1990s broke the taboo that this is an acceptable religious or cultural practice, and there is a growing view that sending children to beg is exploitation rather than a lesson in humility and hard work.

Lessons have also been learned from unsuccessful efforts in the past, which alienated the Koranic masters and made these children harder to reach. Dedicated activists, from such local organisations as Enda Graf and Tostan are building trust with the Koranic masters and are working with them to improve health and hygiene, provide food, clothes and shoes, or encourage them to allow the talibés to get a basic education, or apprenticeships for older boys. Others, such as the local organisation RADDHO, have brought a few criminal actions in the worst cases.

Though there are steps forward, more radical and systematic responses are needed, including investing in rural communities so children can stay with their families and attend government or Koranic day schools, instead of being sent away and forced to beg.