Applicants to join the Indonesian armed forces will no longer be subjected to virginity tests, the chief of staff announced on Wednesday. Rights groups have long condemned the practice as degrading and traumatic. As part of the examination, officers determined whether the hymen was ruptured or partially ruptured. That examination, now outlawed, involved two-finger inspections that determined whether or not the hymens of female applicants were intact. In the past, the military used these tests to determine recruits’ morality.
Not scientifically valid
Human Rights Watch investigated the practice, calling it systematic, abusive and cruel, while the World Health Organization said it lacked scientific validity as hymen appearances were not reliable indicators of sexual activity. Armed forces chief Andika said female and male recruits must be treated equally during the selection process last month. ‘The purpose of virginity testing is irrelevant to recruitment, and it should not be conducted’, he said.
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Human rights activists praised the move, saying such tests were a form of violence against women. Human Rights Watch researcher Andreas Harsono said it was ‘the right thing to do’ and the practice was ‘degrading, discriminatory, and traumatic’. ‘Those tests were not necessary’, said Andy Yentriyani, head of the National Commission on Violence Against Women. The navy and air force of Indonesia are yet to remove this requirement. In 2015, the national police force scrapped the policy.
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