UNpaid Interns Protesting in UN Are Told Their Signs Are Illegal, As Is Filming

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 10 -- Amid mounting questions about the UN using only unpaid interns, favoring the most affluent, a group of interns tried to raise the issue inside the UN on November 10. But UN Security first told them they could not display their (small) signs, then tried to prevent photographing and filming of the muted protest by the press. This is today's UN. This too: Inner City Press tweeted a photo, and broadcast live Periscope video.

  The November 10 protest in rainy New York was preceded by one in Brussels, “standing up for those who cannot afford working for free;” in Geneva on this theme shoes were lined up on the street.

This comes at a time when Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's UN is moving to give raises to its Under Secretaries General such as Herve Ladsous, who linked peacekeepers' raping to their lack of “R&R” and “distraction.”

Inner City Press and the Free UN Coalition for Access (FUNCA) havepreviously asked the UN about this issue and covered it, as has VICE News, which was on the scene Nov 10.

Inner City Press on September 4 again asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric about it, video here, transcript here:

Inner City Press: I have been meaning to just follow up on this.  The letter that was written to the Secretary-General by unpaid UN interns in New York and Geneva, seemed like it was responded to by USG [Under-Secretary-General Yukio] Takasu.  It's not clear — I guess I wanted to ask you.  Is the Secretariat saying that it's an administrative instruction some time back that precludes them from paying interns from the developing world, so that the pool can become more diverse?  Or are they really saying that the GA has definitively made it impossible?  Is there any consideration in asking the GA to address the issue?

Spokesperson Dujarric:  It's a valid of question.  I haven't seen the letter.  I need to take a look at it.  Nobody has shared it with me.  Nobody tells me anything here.  You know, I think on the issue of interns, it is also — I think it's also important to remember that the UN has a global presence, not in every country in the world, but almost every country in the world, and we do take interns locally, so I think there's also… obviously there's a greater mass of interns at our Headquarters station, but we do take interns… most UN offices take interns in different places, which doesn't include the need to travel.  Let me look in the letter and I'll get back to you.

Inner City Press:  Can you get data on that?

Spokesman:  Probably not, because I don't think it exists.  

  Really.

Back on August 11, Inner City Press asked Dujarric, video here, UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: I'm sure you've seen this story about the New Zealand intern at the UN in Geneva living in a tent.  I want to ask sort of a more fundamental question, which is that what would the UN say to those who say that by having so many entirely unpaid internship, it basically, it… it limits this possible career step of learning to only the most affluent people…?

Spokesman Dujarric:  I think it's a very valid point.  The debate around the payment of interns is one that's been going on for some time.  We are not in a position to pay our interns.  It's too bad in a way, because I think it does limit the opportunity to those who are able to pay their own way and house themselves.  Unless the General Assembly changes those rules, there is no change in sight.  What's important is that any internship be used as a learning opportunity for the intern and not be used as, you know, as free labour or as a substitute for work done by staff.

Inner City Press:  Okay. Is that something that the Secretary-General has ever raised to the GA [General Assembly] or…?

Spokesman Dujarric:  I'm not aware of that.

    Back in May 2013 an internship in the UN was auctioned off, ultimately for $26,000, in a processextensively covered and questioned by Inner City Press. The UN said it was embarrassed by the auction or the "optics," and resisted Inner City Press' questions about the sale.

After Inner City Press asked several times about it, the description of the internship being auctioned was"amended," as the UN spokesman put it, to read:

"Take advantage of this exclusive opportunity for a 6-week internship in NYC working for Bruce Knotts, Chair of the UN-NGO Committee on Human Rights. You will gain inside knowledge of just how the UN really operates and have tremendous opportunities to make invaluable connections. This truly is the ultimate internship opportunity for any college or graduate student looking to get their foot in the door!"

The auction, on CharityBuzz.com, said it was to benefit the RFK Young Leaders. Press inquiries to that entity and its parent, the RFK Center, did not yield any answers. But today, at least, we have a detailed answers about how such internships or grounds-passes work, from the Director of the UN Department of Public Information's Outreach Division, Maher Nasser.

  Inner City Press, along with another DPI question to which it is still awaiting the answer -- why was UNTV shut off while Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat was giving a speech on Monday morning -- asked Nasser, "I heard when you told DPI-NGO orientation that it makes the UN look bad, and that the UN is not obligated to let the person ('m. alam') who purchased the internship into the building. Is that the case? And you could keep me informed on this, when the purchased internship is to begin and what the UN / DPI does?"

  To his credit, Nasser provided Inner City Press with the most detailed UN response to date on the auctioned internship:

Subject: Question re the auctioned internship, thanks
From: Maher Nasser [at] un.org
Date: Mon, May 20, 2013 at 2:38 PM
To: Matthew Russell Lee [at] InnerCityPress.com

Hi Matthew, On the internship issue, as you know from the relevant website, this was for an internship with an NGO, not an internship at the UN. The optics of it and use of the UN's image implied otherwise, which is why I flagged it in the orientation with newly associated NGOs as something that hurts the UN and is not acceptable.

Every NGO associated with DPI is entitled to only six yearly passes, two of which are for youth representatives. The names to whom the passes are issued are provided by the president/head of each NGO. By providing the names, the NGO certifies that these names represent the NGO concerned. Up till now, we have had no reason not to grant a pass to people designated as representing an NGO. An old system of temporary passes issued throughout the year was discontinued by DPI several years ago.

With reference to the six names provided, and as I said above, this has not happened in the past, if we find out that someone had to pay or buy a slot on that list, we would take it up with the concerned NGO and depending on the feedback, not endorse that name for a pass.

In view of the case of the auctioned internship, we are preparing language to be added to the forms to be completed by DPI associated NGOs to avoid such possibilities in the future.

  So at a minimum, the "m. alam" on whose behalf $26,000 was bid for this internship might not be endorsed for a pass to actually enter the UN. Would they get a refund? And what do the UN-NGO Committee on Human Rights and the RFK Center have to say? Watch this site.

Footnote: While we await another division of DPI's promised answer to the Free UN Coalition for Accessabout how and why UNTV shut off during Saeb Erakat's speech, we note complaints received about the press corpsmove-back to the Secretariat building, particularly among broadcasters about special charges, special deals, special inquiries. The DPI official in question is aware of several of these complaints; watch this site.

UN Bans Interns from its Bar, Pictures on Facebook and Long Lines for Beer Led Two Delegations to Complain

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1dellounge040508.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 5 -- The UN negotiates with dictators in North Korea and Uzbekistan and with indicted war criminals in Uganda. But faced with noise, mess and long lines for beer caused by its own interns' presence once a week in the UN Delegates' Lounge, rather than talk and seek a solution, the UN has simply banned all interns from the bar.

The new policy was in place on April 4, and the Lounge was at best half as crowded as usual. Bar sales declined by slightly less, thirty-five percent, with some using this as evidence that interns had brought in their own liquor. Several Ambassadors complained to Inner City Press, with one delegate prominent in climate change debates saying that while he rarely spoke with the interns, he now missed their presence, their "energy." This is the UN, he said. Couldn't they have been negotiated with and some compromise reached?

By far the majority of those Inner City Press spoke with in the bar on Friday night after interviewing Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic were opposed to the new absolutist policy of barring the interns. In further inquiry with Ban Ki-moon administration sources, two countries' delegations to the UN were identified as having lodged complaints that operated as "the straw that broke the camel's back," as one source put it, winking and saying this phrase was a clue to which regional group both complainants are from.

Others argue that the identity of this complainers is less important than the new technology which made this year's intern antics more of a worry to the UN than before. Some interns were posting photographs from the Delegates' Lounge on Facebook and other social media sites. This was viewed as going too far, and rather than negotiate, the decision was made to simply prohibit entry by interns.

Some with longer memories say that the current move to ban the interns was set in motion by a breathy New York Post article in September 2007, describing the Delegates' Lounge as a singles bar with disco music. The Post's writer for that story has not been seen since in the building. Also impacted are journalists not deemed resident correspondents, and contractors, such as those running UN TV, many of who have worked in the UN for decades while the private company holding the contract has changed. (An affiliate of the current contract holder is said by sound-men or sound-persons to be near to bankruptcy.)

Recently the Delegates' Lounge has innovated in its offers, from expanding the wine list to bringing in beer on tap, including an organic brew. Since the bar is run by the same contractor as the cafeteria, Aramark -- the work force is involved in a contract dispute, quietly marked by the deployment of "UNITE HERE" union lapel pins -- often sandwiches and salads not sold during the day are given out free at night in the bar. On April 4, there was more food than people, as chef salads sat uneaten, alongside a tray-load of cold mozzarella sticks.

Aramark's flash web site to drum up outside business for its Delegates' Dining Room catering service promises "this world renowned setting where diplomats, ambassadors and world leaders dine, celebrate and arbitrate." But in this case, there was no arbitration.

Several highly-placed Ban Administration officials frequent the Delegates' Lounge on Fridays, and one wonders what this new policy, if unaltered, says about their diplomatic skills and commitment to egalitarianism. The UN is already almost laughably hierarchical, with its system of coded identification cards worn around the neck, and employment status grouped into G for General versus P for Professional, with very little mobility between the two.

A defender of the new policy told Inner City Press that there are simply "too many interns," even if they could be convinced to forego Facebook. But why not then deem one Friday for interns with last names A to L, the next for M to Z? While the situations are not comparable, would the UN stop providing services in the field because too many people lined up for them? Or would they try to come up with a workable system?

Press analysis: a lack of creative problem solving on something so simple right in UN headquarters may not be unrelated to recent diplomatic gaffes in such places as Kosovo, click here for that, and watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1dellounge040508.html