Indonesia has been subjecting female police recruits to a physical test to try and determine whether they are virgins, a leading human rights group said Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Describing the practice as degrading and discriminatory, Human Rights Watch said in a report that such tests were a longstanding practice in Indonesia.
The report said "patriarchal" attitudes and practices in the security forces are common, according to
The report was based on interviews with female police officers and police applicants in six Indonesian cities who had undergone the so called "two-finger" test to determine whether their hymens are intact, Reuters reported.
The group said medical experts said such tests were useless in determining virginity, according to Reuters.
Indonesian police spokesman Maj. Gen. Ronny Sompie urged people not "respond negatively" to the tests, saying they were aimed at ensuring applicants were free from sexually transmitted diseases, Reuters reported.
"All of this is done in a professional manner and did not harm the applicants," Sompie said, according to Reuters.
Nisha Varia, associate women's rights director at HRW said it is not known if the female applicants were expelled from the process, but said all female applicants called the procedure painful and degrading, Reuters reported.
"Applicants who failed the test were not necessarily expelled from the force, but women described the test as painful and traumatic," Varia said, according to Reuters.
Human Rights Watch has documented the use of abusive virginity tests by police in several other countries, including Egypt, India and Afghanistan, The Bangkok Post reported.
A spokesman for the national police confirmed virginity tests still happened but that there was no requirement for female candidates to be virgins, so why are the tests performed?
"There is a complete health test for both female and male candidates including checking reproductive organs and the virginity test for women will be a part of that routine," said Sompie. "But there has never has been a rule that requires police woman to be virgins, so there is no discrimination."
