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The Indonesian army has hinted that it will end mandatory "virginity tests" for female recruits, in a move that has been welcomed by human rights groups, CNN reports.

For decades, the army has subjected female recruits -- as well as, in some instances, the prospective wives of male soldiers -- to the "abusive, unscientific, and discriminatory" tests, Human Rights Watch said in a statement on its website.

During the invasive tests, women have two fingers inserted into their vagina by a doctor of either sex, in a bid to assess whether they have an intact hymen.

Human Rights Watch said the practice amounts to "gender-based violence."

Virginity testing is a widely discredited and condemned practice that the World Health Organization has said has "no scientific validity" and is a "violation of the victim's human rights."

Speaking on a teleconference that was uploaded to YouTube last month, Indonesian army Chief of Staff General Andika Perkasa implied that the procedure would be stopped, with training instead focused on "capability."

"We have to be consistent. The selection we do for men should be the same (as) tests for women, in terms of testing their capabilities to follow the basic of military training," he said in the broadcast.

Some tests, he added, were now "unnecessary" and "irrelevant."