London: After going through repeated sexual abuse and humiliation in the hands of the notorious Islamic State militants, young girls from the Yazidi community are now forced to undergo traumatic virginity tests in Iraqi courts.
The rt.com citing the Human Rights Watch said that Yazidi girls and women are forced to undergo these tests to prove to Iraqi courts that they were raped.
The news article, posted on the human rights organization’s website, was based on a research on the post-ISIS fate of Yazidi women in Iraq.
According to the report, one of the girls named Luna was kidnapped by Islamic State militants, sold four times, and raped by all of her “owners.”
“Survivors my colleague and I interviewed, described organized rape, sexual slavery, and forced marriage by ISIS,” researcher Rothna Begum said.
Although the victims needed psychological help, health care and other services, Iraqi officials still forced the girls and women to undergo traumatic “virginity tests” to confirm that they had been abused.
“These tests were seen as evidence of rape by Iraqi courts,” Begum wrote.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), though virginity tests are being conducted in some countries it has no scientific validity.
Fortunately, the Kurdish officials in Iraq has given assurances to the Human Rights Watch that they will stop the practice of virginity tests.
“The health directorate in Dohuk adopted a new medical examination report on sexual violence based on UN recommendations, consistent with human rights and best practice,” the report quoted Begum as saying.
