Women who want to become police officers have to undergo "virginity tests" in Indonesia, a practice that has come under fire by the Human Rights Watch for being "discriminatory and a form of gender-based violence," RT reported on Tuesday.
Female police officers across six Indonesian cities were interviewed by the watchdog group to see if the women still had to undergo the test, despite officials promising to do away with it.
The video interviews are now posted to a YouTube feed maintained by the Human Rights Watch. The women hid their faces from the camera and used pseudonyms, describing how they had to endure a humiliating and painful "two-finger test." The HRW describes the practice as discredited and ancient.
"Police authorities in Jakarta need to immediately and unequivocally abolish the test, and then make certain that all police recruiting stations nationwide stop administering it," Nisha Varia, associate women's rights director at Human Rights Watch, said in the statement .
One 24-year-old woman recalled how frightening and painful the experience was, and feared that after the test was done she wouldn't be a virgin any more.
The virginity test requirement is listed on the official website of the Indonesia national police force.
Maj Gen Ronny Sompie, a spokesman for the Indonesian police force, said the exam was used to find out whether applications had any sexually transmitted infections, according to the Guardian.
"All of this is done in a professional manner and [does] not harm the applicants," Sompie said.
But international and local rights groups aren't having it.
"No effort is made to help the women out of their stress and trauma," said Yefri Heriyani, of a West Sumatra women's rights group, warning that the test had permanent, negative effects on the recruits. "Many of them blame themselves for taking the test."
