After Internship in UN Auctioned for $26,000 for RFK Young Leaders, Buyer Might Not Be Let In, ICP's Told, Forms Reformed?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 20 -- An internship in the UN was auctioned off, ultimately for $26,000, in a process extensively 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, 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 Access about how and why UNTV shut off during Saeb Erakat's speech, we note complaints received about the press corps move-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.

On Internship in UN, UN Tells ICP "Details Amended on Web," But Foot Still In, RFK Center Still No Answer

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 6 -- On the internship at the UN being auctioned off, now for $26,000, Inner City Press asked again on May 6. UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky replied that "the details of the internship in question have been amended on the website."

  Inner City Press, have looked at the slightly amended ad, asked if the "foot in the door" still referred to meant only a foot in the door of the NGO, or of the UN system. 

  We await an answer to this question, which we have posed to the listed spokespeople for CharityBuzz.com, the RFK Young Leaders as well as the wider RFK Center, in which at least one Security Council mission may have an interest.

Inner City Press asked the French Mission to the UN to comment on the auction of an internship at the UN. Mission spokesman Guillaume Dabouis came out of the Security Council to say he had no comment. (Another question asked has not yet been responded to.)

It is understood, however and to France's credit, that it PAYS its interns, and only selects them through them a human resources process, not an auction. Others have been asked.

Here is the ad of what's being auctioned, as of noon and 4:30 pm in New York on May 6:

Lot Details

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!

Requirements for the internship:

An interest in Human Rights/Climate Change

Proficient in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint

Strong writing skills

Must be willing to take initiative and be pro-active

Able to provide a resume

Proceeds benefit RFK Young Leaders.

   Wag: What? Pay $26,000 and still have to provide a resume??

  It has been suggested the UN could not let in or otherwise vet the person on whose behalf $26,000 is paid. Nesirky did not yet answer this Inner City Press question.

    It seems strange, particularly in light of Buzz that the RFK Center may not be the true beneficiary of the auction, that so far the only response to multiple inquires to Sierra Ewert and then Meaghan E. Baron from the the RFK side has been this:

From: RFK Info info [at] rfkcenter.org
Date: Mon, May 6, 2013 at 3:04 PM
Re: [Second] Press Q on deadline for comment on the [modified?] auctioning off of an internship at the UN, thanks
To: Matthew Russell Lee [at] InnerCityPress [dot] com

Thank you for contacting the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. A representaive from the Center will contact you once he or she receives your inquiry. Thank you again and have a great day.

Watch this site.

Scoop Update II: After ICP Asks of Sale of Internship AT UN, UN Spins It's Not a UN Internship; Who's RFK "Winner" Aygul?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 2 -- Yesterday morning Inner City Press published an expose that an internship at the UN was and is being sold, online, for more than $20,000. Then at theMay 1 UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked the UN to justify that

Inner City Press: people should pay $22,000 to work in the UN, it’s for the UN NGO Committee on Human Rights, for six weeks. They are auctioning it off openly to benefit something called the RFK Young Leaders Foundation. It says, you’ll learn how the UN really works.... I have written an article about it... I am wondering if the UN is comfortable with positions inside the building being sold for money online.

Spokesperson Nesirky: I’ll have to look into that; I am not aware of that particular unusual story, Matthew. [Video here, at 13:42]

  Nearly eight hours later after some others jumped on that story if only on Twitter, some far away giving credit or hat tips and some closer at hand troublingly not, the UN sent Inner City Press this answer:

Subject: Re: Your question today
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Wed, May 1, 2013 at 7:53 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

Internships at the United Nations are not for sale and cannot be put up for auction. We are trying to find out the details of how this came about and have contacted 'charitybuzz.com'

Inner City Press immediately published this answer, in a second story noting that it had asked the RFK Center's Sierra Ewert:

"I am a journalist who covers the UN; this morning I wrote a story, then asked the UN a question, about the RFK Center's RFK Young Leaders role in the auctioning off of a "UN internship" for over $20,000 on CharityBuzz.com. I want to ask you, on deadline, what the RFK Center's knowledge of, involvement in, and position on this auctioning off of an internship at the UN is. Please respond ASAP."

  The RFK Center has yet to respond; some have come to its defense, or to the defense of Bruce Knotts. But is that the point?  Inner City Press put in other requests for comment.

   For what it's worth, the bidding started at $500 then got into a contest between "m.alam" and "Aygul," with the latter the interim (Young?) leader at $22,000.

  The UN, after publication of Inner City Press' second story, sent a "further to" clarification:

"Further to the earlier email, just to add that we do not believe that the internship in question is a UN internship. As mentioned, we are trying to establish the details of this case and have contacted 'charitybuzz.com.'"

  It was at this point, using precisely this "further to" language from Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson's office, that another slowly came to the story. How did it happen? 

 What was the role of the spokesperson's office, which just last week didn't answer Inner City Press' April 25 noon briefing question about Ban meeting with former French president (and now investment adviser for Qatar) Nicolas Sarkozy -- then gave the answer to Agence France Presse? There is a growing pattern of this.

  The auctioned internship story has hit a nerve given the parallel debate about the ethics of unpaid internships; some have become aware of it through that world, and that's good. But in the smaller world of those who cover the UN, there are troubling developments on which we have also put in questions. In the UN fUN-house it is "World Press Freedom Day;" one would expect answers. Watch this site.