REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, LONDON -- Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated that World Health Organization (WHO) condemned virginity test toward women candidates in national police. Indonesian National Police incorporates virginity test as part of recruitment procedures for women candidates.
WHO recently issued recommendation, included in a November 2014 WHO Handbook, to end virginity test. "WHO has stated that virginity test or two-finger's test is unscientific," Commissioner of HRW, Phelim Kine, said on Saturday, December 6.
He said that virginity test was a violation of human rights, particularly the prohibition against cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment under article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and article 16 of the Convention against torture. Indonesia has ratified both conventions.
Kine said that national police could not argue that they did not know about the case. He claimed that police had never carried out HRW's recommendation to stop virginity test as police claimed that it was for moral measurement.
HRW urged President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla to put concern on women issue. Violation towards Indonesian women, he said, indicated that Indonesia did not care for women.