MANILA, Philippines – For thousands of Filipinos who took to the streets on Sunday, December 10, the fight to uphold human rights goes beyond International Human Rights Day.

Various groups joined protests on Sunday to call on the Filipino youth to hold President Rodrigo Duterte accountable and “fight tyranny” in the country.

The groups pointed to killings in the Duterte administration’s bloody drug war, as well as the imposition of martial law in Mindanao which the President will seek another extension for.

According to them, Duterte’s human rights record is already worse than that of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

“It is clear that even while laws exist to lay the foundation of our rights and freedoms, they are not safeguards that will completely protect the people from state-perpetrated violence. Laws do not ensure the protection of our rights; continuous struggle does,” Kabataan said in a statement.

Here are some photos from the protests in Metro Manila.

The United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948, responding to massive human rights violations perpetrated by states before and during World War II. The Philippines, as a signatory to this declaration, has the obligation to respect fundamental rights. – Rappler.com