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Authorities
in Indonesia plan to ban virginity tests for female civil servants following
widespread condemnation that the country’s police force still uses the
“degrading” practice to vet candidates.
RT.com reports Home
Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said he is working to put an end to the tests
for women seeking to enroll in the Institute of Public Administration, a
college for civil service and regional administrators in training.
“[That] a woman is not a virgin can be due to
several reasons, such as a fall," the Bangkok Post cites
Tjahjo as saying. "This
should not be a measure. It is a pity that just because of that a woman fails
to qualify, even though she is competent.”
Despite
the push to ban the testing practice for civil service hopefuls, the police
force has not changed its policy.
In
November, Human Rights Watch issued a scathing report saying female recruits
hoping to join the police force were still being subjected to the “degrading”
‘two-finger’ test.
The
police force already enforces strict requirements for women, who account for
only 3 percent of 400,000 police officers in Indonesia.
Candidates
must be between the ages of 17.5 and 22 years old. They can neither have been
married nor divorced, must follow one of six officially-identified state
religions, and they must be at least 5’5” (165cm). They are also forced to
undergo a health check, which includes an examination of reproductive health
and virginity.
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Human
Rights Watch interviewed female police and police applicants in six Indonesian
cities who had undergone the test, two of them in 2014. Although failing the
virginity test did not automatically disqualify them from the force, all of the
women described the test as painful and traumatic.
Many
of the women were only made aware of the tests just moments before it was
conducted.
“The tests contravene National Police
principles that recruitment must be both ‘nondiscriminatory’ and ‘humane,’ and
violate the international human rights to equality, nondiscrimination, and
privacy,” the New York-based group wrote in November.
“Coerced
‘virginity tests’ can also constitute cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment
prohibited under international law.”
At
the time, National Police spokesman Ronny Sompie said the test was not
discriminatory.
"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," he said.
"But
there has never has been a rule that requires policewomen to be virgins, so
there is no discrimination."
Despite
the stringent tests, women are expected to account for 5 percent of the police
force - 21,000 officers - by the end of the year.
Apart
from Indonesia, Human Rights Watch has also documented the practice of
virginity tests for policewomen in other countries including Egypt, India and
Afghanistan.
Last year, some education
officials in Indonesia created controversy by proposing that virginity tests be
introduced for teenage schoolgirls.
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