The military previously said the tests were important in determining the recruits’ morality.
Jakarta:
The Indonesian military has ended a controversial practice of virginity tests on women running for cadets, according to the chief of staff, a move welcomed by activists who have long campaigned against it.
According to the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), which surveyed the practice in 2014 and renewed calls in 2017 to end it.
The military previously said the tests were important in determining the recruits’ morality. The World Health Organization has said they have “no scientific validity” and the appearance of a hymen was not a reliable indicator of intercourse.
Andika Perkasa, the Indonesian military’s chief of staff, told reporters on Tuesday that such tests no longer take place in the military.
“Whether the hymen was ruptured or partially ruptured was part of the investigation…now there’s nothing left of that,” he said in comments confirmed by a military spokesman.
Andika said last week that the army’s selection process for male and female recruits should be equal.
The Navy conducted pregnancy tests on female candidates, but not specific virginity tests, spokesman Julius Widjojono said Wednesday, adding that “both men and women undergo the same tests.”
Indan Gilang, an Air Force spokesman, said female reproductive testing was performed to check for cysts or other complications that could impair the recruits’ ability to serve, adding that “virginity testing” did not exist in the terminology of the Air Force. troops.
Human rights groups welcomed the announcement that the military had halted the practice.
“The tests were never necessary,” said Andy Yentriyani, head of the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan).
Andreas Harsono, Indonesia researcher at HRW said it was “the right thing to do”, adding that the practice was “humiliating, discriminatory and traumatic”.
He said HRW had spoken to more than 100 female military recruits undergoing the tests, one of whom said she was subjected to it in 1965.
(This story was not edited by NewsMadura staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
