Indonesian police's abusive virginity tests for female recruits must end, say campaigners
Practice has no scientific validity, rules World Heath Organisation
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Indonesia’s military and police continue to perform abusive virginity tests on female recruits three years after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared they had no scientific validity, an international human rights group has said.
Human Rights Watch said that senior Indonesian police and military officers have told it that security forces still impose the “cruel and discriminatory tests,” which are carried out under the guise of psychological examinations for mental health and morality reasons.
“The Indonesian government’s continuing tolerance for abusive ‘virginity tests’ by the security forces reflects an appalling lack of political will to protect the rights of Indonesian women,” said Nisha Varia, women’s rights advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.
The group called for President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to order the national police chief and military commander to ban the practice.
The testing includes the invasive “two-finger test” to determine whether female applicants’ hymens are intact, which WHO in its 2014 clinical guidelines for health care of sexually abused women said lacks any scientific basis.
Human Rights Watch said it found that applicants who were deemed to have “failed” the test were not necessarily penalized but all of the women it spoke with described the test as painful, embarrassing, and traumatic.
Human Rights Watch has also documented the use of virginity tests by security forces in Egypt, India and Afghanistan and criticized calls for virginity tests for Indonesian school girls.
It said all three branches of the Indonesian military have imposed the tests for decades and in some circumstances also extended the requirement to the fiancees of military officers.
AP
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments