Leilani Farha, former U.N. special rapporteur and global director of The Shift, will present “Back Home: Returning Human Rights to Housing” at 7 p.m. April 9 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts.

The free public lecture is the final event of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s 2023-24 E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues. It is sponsored by NeighborWorks Lincoln and the Nebraska Investment Finance Authority.

Tickets can be reserved through the Lied Center here, by calling 402-472-4747 or by visiting the Lied’s box office, 301 N. 12th St. Forum events are general admission, with seating on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

The lecture will be preceded by a free screening of the documentary “Push,” in which Farha is the central character, at 5 p.m. April 2 at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center. The film, which focuses on the escalating global housing crisis, will be followed by a Cooper Conversation discussion with local housing advocates. Tickets can be reserved here.

Farha has helped develop global human rights standards on the right to housing through her topical reports on homelessness, the financialization of housing, informal settlements and rights-based housing strategies; and the first U.N. guidelines for the implementation of the right to housing. She continues the conversation started in “PUSH” on the “PUSHBACK Talks” podcast. Farha launched The Shift in 2017 with the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and United Cities and Local Governments.

On April 9, Farha will discuss her work, which is animated by the principle that housing is a social good, not a commodity. From grassroots organizing and mass protests to innovative social projects and a few bold policy changes, the movement to reclaim the right to housing is growing. Farha and her colleagues at The Shift aim to advance this movement through advocacy, research and campaigning. The Shift restores the understanding of housing as home and provokes action to end homelessness, unaffordability and evictions globally.

This year’s Thompson Forum series is organized around the theme “Uprooted: Migration, Displacement and Searching for Home.” The series opened Sept. 18 with “A World on the Move: The Forces Uprooting Us,” featuring global strategy adviser and bestselling author Parag Khanna, and continued with a youth panel discussion on Nov. 14 and the presentation “Of Love and War: Stories of Tragedy and Resilience,” featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario, on March 5.

All events are free and open to the public. Events are streamed on the Thompson Forum website.

The E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues is a cooperative project of the Cooper Foundation, Lied Center and University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The series 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.

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