The Work Continues
Today's Quaker star
After the Second World War, Friends Service Council (FSC), in cooperation with American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) - and increasingly with similar committees of other Quaker groups throughout the world - sent workers to Korea, Kenya, Algeria, Vietnam and Nigeria. In 1979, FSC merged with the Peace and International Relations Committee (PIRC) to form Quaker Peace and Service (QPS), since it was decided that service, particularly overseas, could not be separated from work for peace. From 2000 the responsibility for such work was taken up by Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW). AFSC retains its older title and continues to work in the international arena.
Today QPSW co-ordinates the British contribution to the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), an initiative of the World Council of Churches. The mission of the programme is to accompany Palestinians and Israelis in non-violent action and advocacy efforts to end the occupation.
Palestine, 2006
QPSW have also been involved in peace initiatives in Uganda and in the former Yugoslavia, where it has representatives in Belgrade and Sarajevo, assisting with post-war reconciliation.
Uganda, 2002
Friends have traditionally been anxious to stress that their work is of modest proportion, and that Quaker service springs directly from the personal concerns and insights of individuals, tested by the corporate guidance and judgment of the group. Such work is a corporate expression of the Quaker Peace Testimony.
Further information about current work is available on the Peace and Social Witness pages.
This on-line exhibition is illustrated with images that are copyright of the Religious Society of Friends. If you have any questions or comments concerning the images or the exhibition then please email library@quaker.org.uk.
Further information about the Nobel Peace Prize can be found on the Nobel Prize website (new window).
This exhibition has been created by Joanna Clark and Julia Hudson.
