In Indonesia Female Police Recruits To Undergo Virginity Test

In Indonesia, female police recruits must undergo virginity tests before they are accepted.

These female officers must undergo virginity tests before recruitment.

 (Indonesian Police)

There has been widespread condemnation to a new law in Indonesia which makes it mandatory for female police recruits in Indonesia to go for a virginity test before they could be accepted. Married women though, are not eligible to join the police in that country.

The Indonesian National Police website lists the health requirements for female recruits, listing virginity as one of the requirements:

In addition to the other medical and physical examinations. Women who want to become policewomen are to undergo a virginity test. Policewomen must keep their virginity.

Overall, the medical and physical examination has two main objectives. The first one is to make sure that the candidates' health and physical condition will not harm them when admitted into police force.

Secondly, it is to make sure that they do not possess any communicable diseases that will not allow them to perform maximally as trained police personnel.

As to the examination of the virginity, it is just a part of the whole medical and physical test, not intended to solely seek for the virginity condition.

Or it can not be put in a perspective for the sake of finding out the virginity, instead, it is for the sake of the completeness of medical and physical examination.

But the Human Rights Watch has condemned what it calls invasive virginity test for female police recruits, calling it 'painful' and 'traumatic,' as they were subjected to thorough medical tests that included examination of genitalia.

A HRW report says they interviewed several female officers and applicants, as well as police medical and recruitment staff. They also say they spoke with a National Police commission member.

The report describes the test, administered by Police Medical and Health Center staff in police hospitals in the cities of Bandung, Jakarta, Padang, Pekanbaru, Makassar, and Medan, as 'discriminatory, cruel and degrading.'

One recruit interviewed by HRW for the report said:

Entering the virginity test examination room was really upsetting. I 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.