JAKARTA, Indonesia – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudh Human rights organizations applauded Indonesia’s decision to end harsh “virginity tests” on female army recruits, seven years after the World Health Organization deemed them invalid.
He stated that applicants should only be judged on their ability to participate in physical training and that the military would focus on whether or not they have color blindness, as well as the condition of their spines and hearts, to ensure that they are healthy and will not face life-threatening medical issues.
The new protocols have been communicated to the army’s hospital directors and medical commanders since May, he added.
In its 2014 clinical recommendations for the health treatment of sexually assaulted women, the World Health Organization said that the so-called “virginity test” has no scientific validity.
Harsono said in a statement received by The Associated Press on Thursday that the army command is doing the right thing. “It is now up to territory and battalion commanders to obey orders and acknowledge the practice’s unscientific and rights-abusing nature.”
Applicants who were considered to have “failed” the test were not necessarily penalized, according to Human Rights Watch, but all of those who were subjected to it stated it was unpleasant, humiliating, and upsetting.
The Indonesian military and police, according to the report, have been conducting the tests for decades, and have even examined the fiancees of military personnel. In 2018, Indonesian police put a halt to the practice.