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Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW), previously known as theFriends Service Council, and then asQuaker Peace and Service, is one of the central committees of theBritain Yearly Meeting of theReligious Society of Friends – the national organisation ofQuakers inBritain. It works to promote British Quakers'testimonies ofequality, justice,peace,simplicity andtruth, alongside both small local and large internationalpressure groups.
In 1947, the thenFriends Service Council received theNobel Peace Prize jointly with theAmerican Friends Service Committee, on behalf of the Quakers.
Peace Campaigning and Networking: aims to encourage a wider and deeper understanding of the peace testimony and to promotedisarmament and work againstmilitarism.
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.
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 2007–08, the initiative has been passed toCircles.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 prisonchaplaincy teams to offer spiritual support and friendship to prisoners of all faiths and none.
Quaker Housing Trust: isBritain Yearly Meeting'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.
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/IrelandEcumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel, sending human rights observers to accompany peace activists in their nonviolent actions.
Quaker United Nations Office:QUNO in Geneva concentrates on three areas; Disarmament and Peace, Human Rights and Refugees and Global Economic Issues. QUNO works inGeneva andNew York City to consult with theUnited Nations Economic and Social Council on behalf of theFriends World Committee for Consultation.
South Asia: QPSW works to strengthen the nonviolence movement in the Indian sub-continent by helping to link peace and social change organisations.
QPSW andAFSC received theNobel Peace Prize in 1947, as representatives of the Quakers.
The roots of QPSW are in the missionary work done under the name ofFriends' Foreign Mission Association (1868–1927). With the decline of the missions, theMission Association merged with theCouncil for International Service (1919–1927) to form theFriends Service Council (1927–1978). Which was renamedQuaker Peace and Service (1979–2000), known asQuaker Peace & Social Witness since 2001.
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