Our senses allow us to learn, to protect ourselves, to enjoy our world. Can you imagine what it might be like to live your life without any of your senses? The human being’s five senses usually work together to give us a clear picture of the things around us. If one sense is not working due to an accident or illness, the other senses will take over or become stronger to make up for what’s lacking. The five senses are: taste, sight, touch, smell, and hearing.

We humans have a general understanding of our senses as long as we can't live without them, but it is more important to see how we can live and utilize them towards achieving our goals. The fate of every human’s life depends on the senses. Whichever way we choose to use our senses, we still encounter situations that challenge our morality and integrity as humans who are committed to protecting the welfare of society. In times like this, how do we use our senses to properly fight for and maintain systematic peace?

If you look at the facts, many organizations and institutions around the world are already advocating for overall peace and security. However, the path towards a worldwide guarantee of human welfare is still a long one, and it’s up to us as individuals and small communities to contribute to the effort. Even as individual people, we can help by finding strategies on how best to use our own capacities, including our five senses, to advocate for peace. We can help reduce violence, discrimination, and stigma with a conscious effort to continually empathize with other people, and studying the contexts of various issues around the world. You’ll find out soon enough that because human beings are largely different, we experience many things differently based on race, gender, class status, age, physical abilities, and many more. With all these differences in place, how do we as responsible humans come toward a mutual respect for human rights and welfare?

Here are a few good ways to use our individual senses to advocate for Human Rights, regardless of culture, race, class, age, physical ability, or gender: 

1. Be accepting and cognizant of Human Nature and its various complexities
2. Respect your society’s rule of law, and learn to understand it
3. Keep in touch with minority or marginalized groups, to get know their concerns.
4. Think before you do, and listen before you act.

The rights are based on the human being’s five individual senses, so I encourage all of you to use yours to learn more about the root cause of issues in our society. You don’t necessarily have to fight against institutions or relevant sectors that cause these issues, but thinking on proper solutions and providing positive, action-oriented feedback would be a great step towards promoting a Human Rights-based society. 

Phanith Phao

Phanith Phao

Phanith Phao is a third year university student who is actively involved in the work of CamASEAN Youth’s Future. He is involved in human rights and democracy activism in Cambodia and in ASEAN. He found inspiration to work on ending violence against persons from minority groups.