An exiled Uighur leader called for more concerted international pressure on China to end its mass detention of the ethnic group as he received a US award.
The National Endowment for Democracy, which is funded by the US Congress to promote democracy worldwide, gave its annual award to the World Uyghur Congress as well as the Tibet Action Institute and ChinaAid, a Christian human rights group headed by pastor Bob Fu.
The Democracy Award -- whose statuette resembles the Goddess of Democracy erected by students in Tiananmen Square -- was presented Tuesday night on the 30th anniversary of China's crushing of the student protests, which left hundreds if not more dead.
Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress, which says it represents the interests of Uighurs both under Chinese rule and overseas, said the award offered a morale boost to the group which Beijing has branded a terrorist organization.
"Maybe this award will bring more support for the Uighur cause from the international community," Isa told AFP at the ceremony.
"Some countries like the US and European countries are speaking out. But many Muslim countries continue not only their silence but supporting the Chinese repression toward the Uighurs. It's a real disappointment and shame because we are Muslims facing religious persecution," he said.
China has rounded up more than one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim Turkic peoples in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, according to estimates cited by a UN panel.
The United States has drawn parallels to Nazi Germany and denounced the "concentration camps."
Representative Jim McGovern, presenting the award to Isa, described the camps as an "attempt to stamp out Uighur identity" and said Uighurs who are not detained "live in an open-air prison."
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