Indonesian army ends "virginity tests" on female cadets: "Abusive, unscientific and discriminatory"

The Indonesian Army will no longer conduct "virginity tests" on female cadets, the army's chief of staff said Wednesday. The test, which the World Health Organization determined has "no scientific merit or clinical indication," involves someone placing their fingers into a cadet's vagina to supposedly assess whether they have had sex.

Human Rights Watch exposed the use of these tests by Indonesian forces in 2014. The police have ended the use of the exams, Human Rights Watch said last week, but the government had not ended the practice in the military. The practice, the organization says, is a form of gender violence that is "abusive, unscientific and discriminatory." But in an interview with reporters on Wednesday, the Indonesian Army's Chief of Staff Andika Perkasa said that the army needs to "continuously improve every year," including in regards to its recruitment process.