A group of United Nations agencies has called for a ban on all tests carried out to assess the virginity of a girl or a woman, describing it as an abuse of their fundamental human rights.

The agencies are the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR), United Nations Women and the World Health Organization (WHO).

According to a statement issued during the World Congress of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday, the UN stressed that such tests were unscientific and unnecessary.

“So-called ‘virginity testing’, also often referred to as hymen, ‘two-finger’ or per vaginal examination is a gynecological inspection of female genitalia carried out in the false belief that it can reliably determine whether a woman or girl has had vaginal intercourse,” the statement said.

The UN agencies said such tests, which they said were often painful, humiliating and traumatic must be brought to an end, just as it called for the elimination of violence against women and girls around the world.

In the statement, the UN agencies explained that the long-standing practice which has been documented in at least 20 countries has no scientific or clinical basis, stressing that no examination could prove whether a girl or woman has had sex.

The statement further denounced virginity testing as a violation of the rights of girls and women which it said could be detrimental to their physical, psychological and social well-being as well as reinforce stereotyped notions of female sexuality and gender inequality.

“The result of this unscientific test can impact upon judicial proceedings, often to the detriment of victims and in favour of perpetrators, sometimes resulting in perpetrators being acquitted.

“Given that these procedures are unnecessary and potentially harmful, it is unethical for doctors or other health providers to undertake them. Such procedures must never be carried out,” the statement added.