The E. N. Thompson Forum on World Issues is thrilled to present Nadia Murad, co-recipient of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize, and a global advocate for survivors of sexual violence and genocide. The event is co-hosted by Lutheran Family Services. Nadia’s life was brutally interrupted in 2014 when ISIS attacked her homeland in Sinjar to ethnically cleanse Iraq of all minority groups, including the Yazidis. Nadia was held captive for three months following which she escaped to Germany. She eventually co-founded Nadia’s Initiative that works actively to persuade governments and other organizations to support efforts to rebuild the Yazidi homeland. Nadia’s time in captivity is chronicled in The Last Girl: My Time in Captivity and My Fight Against the Islamic State. Her work is featured in the powerful documentary On Her Shoulders.

Nadia will be speaking on “From the Front Lines: Human Rights, Sex Trafficking, and the Survival of the Yazidi People” on September 17th at 6:00 p.m. The event is co-hosted by Lutheran Family Services. Her talk will be translated by Yazidi activist, co-founder of Nadia’s Initiative, and UNL alum Abid Shamdeen. Sriyani Tidball, professor at UNL and Chair of UNL Human Trafficking and Migration Initiative, will be moderating the conversation.

A pre-talk will be delivered on the topic by Stacy Martin, CEO and President of Lutheran Family Services, in the Steinhart Room of the Lied Center for Performing Arts at 5:30p.m.

All E. N. Thompson Forum events are free to attend and open to the public. Tickets to the above event can be reserved online at: https://tickets.liedcenter.org/2100/2101. For additional info, visit: https://enthompson.unl.edu

The E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues is a cooperative project of the Cooper Foundation, Lied Center and the University of Nebraska—Lincoln. It was established in 1988 with the purpose of bringing a diversity of viewpoints on international and public policy issues to the university and people of Nebraska to promote understanding and encourage discussion.