Quaker Peace and Social Witness
Encyclopedia
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
of the Religious Society of Friends
- the national organisation of Quakers in Britain. It works to promote British Quakers' testimonies of equality, justice
, peace
, simplicity
and truth
. It works alongside both small local and large international pressure groups.
In 1947, the then Friends Service Council shared the Nobel Peace price with the American counterpart American Friends Service Committee
.
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.
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 to 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 Britain 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.
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
, 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 in Geneva
and New York
to consult with the United Nations Economic and Social Council
on behalf of the Friends 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 and AFSC
were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947.
Britain Yearly Meeting
The Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends in Britain, also known as Britain Yearly Meeting , is a religious organisation in England, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, often defined as a denomination of Christianity.It is a part of the international religious...
of the Religious Society of Friends
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
- the national organisation of Quakers in Britain. It works to promote British Quakers' testimonies of equality, justice
Testimony of Equality
Testimony of equality is a shorthand description of the action generally taken by members of the Religious Society of Friends towards equality, arising from Friends' belief that all people are created equal in the eyes of God. The word testimony describes the way that Friends testify or bear...
, peace
Peace Testimony
Peace testimony, or testimony against war, is a shorthand description of the action generally taken by members of the Religious Society of Friends for peace and against participation in war. Like other Quaker testimonies, it is not a "belief", but a description of committed actions, in this case...
, simplicity
Testimony of Simplicity
Testimony of Simplicity is a shorthand description of the actions generally taken by members of the Religious Society of Friends to testify or bear witness to their beliefs that a person ought to live his or her life simply in order to focus on what is most important and ignore or play down what...
and truth
Testimony of Integrity
Testimony to integrity and truth, refers to the way many members of the Religious Society of Friends testify or bear witness to their belief that one should live a life that is true to God, true to oneself, and true to others. To Friends, the concept of integrity includes personal wholeness and...
. It works alongside both small local and large international pressure groups.
In 1947, the then Friends Service Council shared the Nobel Peace price with the American counterpart American Friends Service Committee
American Friends Service Committee
The American Friends Service Committee is a Religious Society of Friends affiliated organization which works for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world...
.
UK Peace Work
Peace Campaigning and Networking: aims to encourage a wider and deeper understanding of the peace testimony and to promote disarmament 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 to 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 Britain Yearly Meeting
Britain Yearly Meeting
The Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends in Britain, also known as Britain Yearly Meeting , is a religious organisation in England, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, often defined as a denomination of Christianity.It is a part of the international religious...
’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
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 to several Palestinian towns and villages to monitor the interaction between the Palestinian inhabitants and the Israeli military...
, 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 in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to consult with the United Nations Economic and Social Council
United Nations Economic and Social Council
The Economic and Social Council of the United Nations constitutes one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and it is responsible for the coordination of the economic, social and related work of 14 UN specialized agencies, its functional commissions and five regional commissions...
on behalf of the Friends World Committee for Consultation
Friends World Committee for Consultation
The Friends World Committee for Consultation is a Quaker organization that works to communicate between all parts of Quakerism. FWCC's world headquarters is based in London. It has Consultative NGO status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations...
.
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
American Friends Service Committee
The American Friends Service Committee is a Religious Society of Friends affiliated organization which works for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world...
were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947.
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.See also
- American Friends Service CommitteeAmerican Friends Service CommitteeThe American Friends Service Committee is a Religious Society of Friends affiliated organization which works for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world...
- Conscientious objectorConscientious objectorA conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
- Conscientious objection throughout the world
- Global citizens movementGlobal citizens movementIn most discussions, the global citizens movement is a socio-political process rather than a political organization or party structure. The term is often used synonymously with the anti-globalization movement or the global justice movement. Colloquially the term is also used in this imprecise manner...
- International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear WeaponsInternational Campaign to Abolish Nuclear WeaponsThe International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons is a civil society campaign with the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons through a legally binding nuclear weapons convention. It was launched internationally in Vienna in 2007 at a meeting of parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of...
- Mohandas Gandhi
- PeacePeacePeace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...
- Peace Organisation of AustraliaPeace Organisation of AustraliaThe Peace Organisation of Australia was a non-profit and non-religious organisation based in Melbourne, Australia which was active from 2005 to 2009. Its stated objective was the promotion of world peace through education. The organisation was established in May 2005 by a group of students from the...
- Peace symbolPeace symbolA number of peace symbols have been used in various cultures and contexts, one of the most ancient being the olive branch. The dove and olive branch was used by early Christians and was later adopted as a secular symbol. It was popularised by Pablo Picasso in 1949 and became widely used in the...
- Peace flagPeace flagThere have been several designs for a peace flag.-White-bordered national flag:The white flag is recognized in most of the world as a flag of surrender, truce or ceasefire. The first mention of a white flag used in this context is made during the Eastern Han dynasty...
- :Category:Peace movements
- :Category:Peace
- :Category:Peace organizations
- :Category:Peace awards
- :Category:Anti-war
- :Category:Anti-war protests
- :Category:Anti-nuclear movement
External links
- QPSW website
- Quaker United Nations Office
- Mundus – Archives of QPSW