David Hyde, who was living in a tent while interning at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, has resigned from his unpaid position.

The mother of a young New Zealander forced to sleep in a tent in Geneva says she is "proud" he has started a debate about unpaid internships at the United Nations.

After the plight of David Hyde featured on the front page of a Swiss newspaper on Tuesday (Wednesday NZ Time) and on Wednesday (Thursday NZT), the 22-year-old from Christchurch told journalists outside the gates of the UN's European headquarters he had decided to resign.

"It's my own decision and I chose to resign because I felt that it would be too difficult to continue to focus on my work as an intern at this stage," said Hyde, who started his internship two weeks ago, AFP reported.

His Christchurch-based mother, Vicki Hyde, said she had not heard from her son yet and only knew what had been reported in the media.

She noted her son said the UN had been supportive, but he was "just finding it hard to focus on things".

"It would be a fairly stressful situation to be in. I really feel for my son and the awkward position he's in."

She was "astonished" by how far her son's story had spread, but said the issues he had raised about unpaid internships were "really interested" and needed to be discussed.

"As a mother I worry about him and his prospects, but as a citizen I'm proud of what he's done," she said.

"Obviously there's a lot of young people being exploited in organisations all over the world. We're kind of used to it in commercial organisations like law firms ... we wouldn't expect it to be someone like the United Nations, which is supposed to stand for fairness and justice."

She urged her son to "phone home", but believed he would be ok.

"Far worse things could happen to him than living in a tent on the shore of Lake Geneva."

A photo of him standing in a suit, UN badge around his neck, next to a small tent and rolled up foam mattress near Lake Geneva, caused outrage and an outpouring of offers of accommodation, according to the Tribune de Geneve, which broke the story.

He described the excitement at home when he was accepted to the prestigious position, but said his family was unaware of his precarious situation in the Swiss city, where rents are among the highest in the world, AFP reported.

"I just want to make it clear that no person forced me to sleep in a tent, but rather my circumstances and the conditions for this internship made it the only real possibility that I could see," he told reporters.

Hyde acknowledged lying during his internship interview when asked whether he would be able to support himself during his stay in Geneva, AFP reported.

But he said he had previously answered that question truthfully and had found all doors closed to him.

"The UN was clear about their intern policy from the start: No wage or stipend, no transport help, no food allowance, no health assistance. I understood this, and in that regard, I have to take responsibility for taking the internship in the first place," he said during the media scrum.

But Hyde called for the UN to change its policies.

"I do not feel that this is a fair system," he said, urging interns worldwide to "push for the recognition of our value and the equal rights that we deserve."