Indonesian army stops invasive 'virginity tests' on female recruits

The Indonesian army has ended a controversial practice of virginity tests on women who apply to become cadets, according to its chief of staff, a move that has been welcomed by activists.

The so-called "two-finger tests", where doctors would check for the presence of the hymen in female recruits to try to determine if they were virgins, has been called systematic abuse and cruelty, by New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), which conducted investigations in 2014 and 2015 and has been rallying to end the archaic practice.

The Indonesian military previously said the tests were important in determining morality of their recruits. The World Health Organization has said these kind of tests have "no scientific validity". Rights activists have welcomed the move, reiterating that such tests were a form of violence against women.

Indonesia-based activists and academics say it was "the right thing to do", adding that the practice was "degrading, discriminatory, and traumatic."