New Zealander David Hyde pitched up in Geneva when he landed prestigious internship and found he could not afford the city’s expensive rents

An unpaid intern at the United Nations in Geneva has resigned after revelations that he was sleeping in a tent caused uproar.

Olalla Tuñas (@olalla_tunas) Unpaid #UN intern David Hyde forced to live in tent near the UN Beach Club http://t.co/FRCtyx56yi

David Hyde, 22, who had flown 11,000 miles from New Zealand to take up an internship, said accommodation costs in the Swiss city were unaffordable. Images of the international relations graduate – standing in an immaculate suit, UN badge around his neck, next to a small, blue tent and rolled-up foam mattress – had circulated on social media.

Hyde, who had had been camping by the side of Lake Geneva near the city’s botanical garden, received an outpouring of offers of accommodation, according to the Tribune de Geneve, which broke the story.



But on Wednesday, Hyde – unshaven and wearing a rumpled shirt – stood in the sun outside the gates to the UN’s European headquarters and said he had decided to resign. “I’m announcing my resignation from the United Nations internship programme,” he said.

“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.

Hyde had told the Tribune de Geneve about the excitement at home when he was accepted to the prestigious position. But he said his family was unaware of his precarious situation in the city, where rents are among the highest in the world.

“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 on Wednesday.

He acknowledged that he had not told the truth during his internship interview when asked whether he would be able to support himself during his stay. He said, however, that when he had previously answered that question truthfully he 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 added that knowing the policies did not make them right. “Call me young and call me idealistic but I don’t think 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”.

Hyde’s mother, who lives in Christchurch, New Zealand, told Stuff.co.nz that the family was prepared to help her son but she doubted he would accept the offer. “The family was only partly surprised to read of his living situation,” Vicki Hyde said, adding that her son had “a strong view on principles and how people should be treated”.

She said her son had recently spent a lot of time overseas, studying political science in Paris and working in Kenya, and that sometimes he was hard to contact.

Intern rights campaigners were appalled at the graduate’s situation. Tanya de Grunwald, founder of careers blog Graduate Fog, said: “There is so much wrong with this story that it’s hard to know where to start. He should never have resigned. Instead, the UN has a responsibility to pay all its staff a fair and legal wage for the work they do.”

She said it was the first time she had heard of applicants being asked to assure an employer they could support themselves during an internship, as a condition of being offered a role. “Frankly, I’m appalled – and that the employer in question is the United Nations is mind-boggling.”

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She said candidates should never have to disclose their personal financial situation as a condition of gaining employment somewhere, adding: “It is more than unprofessional, it is completely unethical and an appalling recruitment practice.”

Unpaid internships at the UN, some of which can last six months, are advertised publicly. Previous petitions have called for UN interns to receive a fair wage.

Ahmad Fawzi, a UN spokesman, told reporters during a weekly UN briefing that a general assembly resolution barred the organisation from paying interns. “We’re not allowed to even if we want to, and believe me we want to. We would welcome a change to that resolution,” he said, according to The Local.

The UN and its agencies in Geneva employ 162 interns annually. According to a survey conducted by the Geneva Interns Association, 68.5% were unpaid in 2013.

