Pressure rises on China as hundreds protest in Istanbul against Beijing's treatment of Uyghur women

International pressure on China's aggressive crackdown on ethnic minorities has risen, with the latest report of hundreds of women staging a march in Istanbul demanding an end to Beijing's 'genocide' and protection of Uyghur women's rights.

Around 500 protesters, mostly Uyghurs, gathered outside the Chinese consulate in Istanbul on the occasion of International Women's Day on Monday, reported NHK World. They protested the detainment of their mothers and other relatives in China's Xinjiang region.

One of the protesters said that her mother looked forward to International Women's Day every year, but is now struggling in a detention center, NHK World further reported.

Earlier, a group of global lawmakers have called on governments to hold China to account for abuses against minority women in Xinjiang, amid reports of systematic sexual abuse in detention and violations of reproductive rights, reported Radio Free Asia.

Rahima Mahmut, IPAC advisor on Uyghurs, called this year's International Women's Day "a day of mourning for Uyghur women."

"The mass sterilization of Uyghur women, forced abortion of Uyghur children, and gang rape of Uyghur women ... prove beyond reasonable doubt that Uyghur women are facing the most brutal campaign of persecution from the Chinese government," she said.

In January, the US administration of former President Donald Trump declared China's treatment of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang as "genocide," accusing the country of abuses such as the forced sterilization of Uyghur women.

Current US President Joe Biden's administration has upheld Trump's stance on China in this regard, a position recently adopted by Canada and the Netherlands.

Uyghurs make up most of the one million people who the UN estimates have been held in camps in Xinjiang as part of what the central government calls a campaign against terrorism.

China has been rebuked globally for cracking down on Uyghur Muslims by sending them to mass detention camps, interfering in their religious activities and sending members of the community to undergo some form of forcible re-education or indoctrination.

Beijing, on the other hand, has vehemently denied that it is engaged in human rights abuses against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang while reports from journalists, NGOs and former detainees have surfaced, highlighting the Chinese Communist Party's brutal crackdown on the ethnic community.

( With inputs from ANI )