Indonesia authorities deny it, but Human Rights Watch says it’s true — that female police recruits in the nation are forced to endure painful tests to make sure they’re virgins.
An ad on the police force’s website reads: “All women who want to become policewomen should keep their virginity,” Time reported.
And while senior police officers say the tests to determine if that standard is being met have been abolished, Human Rights Watch says that’s not true — that these “painful and traumatic … virginity tests” are still being administered, Time said.
Nisha Varia, associate women’s rights director at HRW, called for police to “immediately and unequivocally abolish the test, and then make certain that all police recruiting stations nationwide stop administering it,” she said.
A 24-year-old recruit said the test she was forced to take was “really upsetting,” and that she “feared that after they performed the test, I would not be a virgin anymore. It really hurt. My friend even fainted because … it really hurt, really hurt,” Time said.
A spokesman for the Indonesia police, meanwhile, said “there are no virginity tests in the selection of policewomen.” He also added, Time reported: “In the selection process, there are comprehensive medical tests for men. In medical tests for men and women, we also conduct examinations of reproductive organs, not virginity tests.”
Roughly 3 percent of Indonesia’s 400,000 police are women.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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