U.N. Calls For End To 'Virginity Tests'
The tests are traumatic and unreliable, the United Nations said in a statement this week. In Afghanistan, there's a campaign to bring the practice to a halt.
On Monday, Farhad Javid will meet with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his wife, Rula Ghani, to ask if he will order the release of around 190 women and girls who are currently in jail for failing a so-called "virginity test."
Javid is is Afghanistan's country director for Marie Stopes, a global family planning organization. Five months ago, he and three colleagues visited the Mazar-i-Sharif prisonand went from cell-to-cell to count the number of women and girls who had been jailed for failing a virginity test. In Afghanistan, premarital sex is considered a "moral crime."
