Indonesia must stop 'degrading' virginity tests, rights group says

Indonesia must stop 'two-finger' virginity tests on female recruits to the country’s military, a human rights group says.

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Women soldiers of Indonesian Air Force march during a ceremony commemorating the 57th anniversary of the forces at the main military air base in Jakarta. (AAP) Source: AP

Human Rights Watch has called for an end to the "degrading" practice of virginity testing for female army recruits.

The rights group said in a statement that the tests - usually conducted with two fingers - were cruel, degrading and a violation of international law.

"The Indonesian armed forces should recognize that harmful and humiliating 'virginity tests' on women recruits does nothing to strengthen national security,” HRW spokeswoman Nisha Varia, said in a statement.

"President Joko Widodo should set the military straight and immediately abolish the requirement and prevent all military hospitals from administering it."
HRW interviewed 11 women - recruits and officers' fiancées - who had been tested, and said all spoke of it being "painful, embarrassing, and traumatic."

In 2014 it was revealed that similar virginity tests were carried out on female recruits to Indonesia's police force, triggering international outrage and calls for the practice to be abolished.

A a female police recruit who wanted to remain anonymous told Human Rights Watch that she had to take her clothes off in front of 20 other candidates. "[The doctor] put two fingers inside me using gel. It hurt very much," she said.

Indonesian Police spokesman Pak Ronny Franky Sompie said that the force’s compulsory obstetrics and gynaecology exam was only medical in nature.

"All prospective students – male and female – who enrol in educational institutions must undertake thorough medical examinations, including of their reproductive regions, to ensure they have the level of physical health needed to enter the police force," he said.

The practice has reportedly been going on in the Indonesian police force since 1965.

Indonesian Armed forces spokesman Major-General Fuad Basya​ said it had been practiced in the military even longer

In Thursday's statement, HRW said it had sent letters to the International Committee of Military Medicine (ICMM), urging it to take a stand against the practice.

The ICMM is set to hold its world conference in Bali from May 17-22.


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