Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW), previously known as the Friends Service Council, and then as Quaker Peace and Service, is one of the central committees of

Britain Yearly Meeting The Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain, also known as the Britain Yearly Meeting (and, until 1995, the London Yearly Meeting), is a Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in England, Sc ...

of the

Religious Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

- the national organisation of

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

s in Britain. It works to promote British Quakers'

testimonies ''Testimonies'' is a 1952 novel, set in North Wales, by the English author Patrick O'Brian. It was first published in the UK under the title ''Three Bear Witness,'' and in the US as ''Testimonies''. Although the book's first English reviews w ...

of equality, justice,

peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

, simplicity and

truth Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs ...

. It works alongside both small local and large international

pressure group Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the develop ...

s. In 1947, the then ''Friends Service Council'' received the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

jointly with the

American Friends Service Committee The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Religious Society of Friends (''Quaker'') founded organization working for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world. AFSC was founded in 1917 as a combined effort by Am ...

, on behalf of the Quakers.

UK Peace Work

''Peace Campaigning and Networking'': aims to encourage a wider and deeper understanding of the peace testimony and to promote

disarmament Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, such as n ...

and work against militarism. ''Turning The Tide'': promotes positive social change and helps groups to increase their effectiveness using active nonviolence. ''Peace Education'': supports a range of initiatives for peace education in schools through advising and supporting teachers involved in conflict resolution and peer mediation programmes.

Social Witness

''Economic Issues'': works with grassroots organisations to bring change to UK government, IMF and World Bank policies. QPSW also aims to influence the environmental and social policies of UK based transnational companies. ''Crime & Community Justice'': works to promote the concept of restorative justice, responds to government papers and oversees the "Circles" Scheme. ''Circles of Support & Accountability'': works with groups of trained volunteers and recently released sex offenders. It aims to reduce re-offending and enable the ex-offender to integrate into society in a healthy way. In 2007-8, the initiative has been passed t
Circles.uk
and while Quakers may continue to be involved as volunteers, the organisation has shifted into a new phase as an emerging national network of volunteers of all faiths and none. ''Quaker Prison Ministers'': work within multi-faith prison chaplaincy teams to offer spiritual support and friendship to prisoners of all faiths and none. ''Quaker Housing Trust'': is

’s own housing charity. QHT helps local Quaker-supported social housing projects through advice, loans and grants. ''Parliamentary Liaison'': seeks to express the values of the Society of Friends in the context of current political discussion. ''The Friends Educational Foundation'': is a group of charitable funds, which QPSW administers on behalf of Meeting for Sufferings.

Global Work

''Uganda'': the role of QPSW in Uganda is to support, train and offer consultancy to groups and organisations working on peacemaking and peacebuilding. ''Post Yugoslav countries'': working on the background facilitation of real truth and reconciliation and dealing with the past, QPSW has workers in Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia. ''Middle East'': QPSW manages the UK/Ireland

Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel is an international, ecumenical programme that recruits and despatches observers (known as Ecumenical Accompaniers - EAs) to several Palestinian towns and villages to monitor the inter ...

, sending human rights observers to accompany peace activists in their nonviolent actions. ''Quaker United Nations Office'':

QUNO The Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) is a non-governmental organisation representing the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) at the United Nations in Geneva and New York City. Parent bodies of QUNO are the Friends World Committee for Consulta ...

in Geneva concentrates on three areas; Disarmament and Peace, Human Rights and Refugees and Global Economic Issues. QUNO works in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to consult with the United Nations Economic and Social Council on behalf of the

Friends World Committee for Consultation The Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) is a Quaker organisation that works to communicate between all parts of Quakerism. FWCC's world headquarters is in London. It has General Consultative NGO status with the Economic and Social Cou ...

. ''South Asia'': QPSW works to strengthen the nonviolence movement in the Indian sub-continent by helping to link peace and social change organisations. QPSW and AFSC received the

in 1947, as representatives of the Quakers.

History

The roots of QPSW are in the missionary work done under the name of ''Friends' Foreign Mission Association'' (1868–1927). With the decline of the missions, the ''Mission Association'' merged with the ''Council for International Service'' (1919–1927) to form the ''Friends Service Council'' (1927–1978). Which was renamed ''Quaker Peace and Service'' (1979–2000), known as ''Quaker Peace & Social Witness'' since 2001.

References

External links