Up to 500,000 young women and children as young as 12 at risk of ‘systematic rape’, forced pregnancy and sexual slavery, on the Chinese border fleeing North Korea

epa06705967 (01/20) An ethnic Uighur woman and child greet visitors in their home in Turpan, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Province, China, 17 November 2017. Uighurs, a Muslim ethnic minority group in China, make up about 40 percent of the 21.8 million people in Xinjiang, a vast, ethnically divided region that borders Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia. Xinjiang has long been subjected to separatists unrests and violent terrorist attacks blamed by authorities on Islamist extremism while human rights groups say Chinese repression on religious rights, culture and freedom of movement caused undue tensions. Life however goes on under the watchful eye of the government for the ethnic Uighurs living in the city of Urumqi and surrounding areas. EPA-EFE/HOW HWEE YOUNG ATTENTION: For the full PHOTO ESSAY text please see Advisory Notice epa06705966