'It does make this organisation look terrible'

An organisation representing United Nations unions and associations says the case of a New Zealander who lived in a tent while on an unpaid UN internship highlights huge shortcoming at the organisation.

David Hyde, who is 22, lived in the tent on the shore of Lake Geneva in Switzerland, as he could not afford the cost of rental properties in the Swiss city.

He has since resigned from his internship and is no longer living in a tent.

Coordinating Committee of International Staff Unions and Associations president Ian Richards said the UN was supposed to promote labour standards and human rights.

Instead, he said an intern was left to sleep rough, which was unacceptable.

"It does make this organisation look terrible," he said.

"Here's the United Nations, it's supposed to set the standards when it comes to labour standards, reaching out to the young, reaching out to people in developing countries, and it doesn't seem to be able to do that."

Mr Richards said he hoped Mr Hyde's case would lead to the General Assembly rethinking its position on paid internships.

He said the UN needed the brightest minds, not those with the deepest pockets.

Ahmad Fawzi, head of the UN's information service in Geneva, told the BBC that the policy of not paying interns did not come from UN agencies themselves but from the General Assembly which, some years ago, passed a resolution allowing the recruitment of interns, but prohibiting their payment.

"I personally, everyone here agrees," said Mr Fawzi. "They should be paid.

"But the only way to change it is for a member state to draft a resolution and submit it to the General Assembly and put it to the vote. I have no doubts it would be accepted immediately.

"It's not up to us, the civil servants, it's up to member states to change the rules."

Drafting, adopting and introducing UN policy can, as with any legislative body, take years, meaning David - and his tent - will be unaffected by any potential change.

- RNZ/BBC