Swiss foreign minister dismisses calls for UN intern resolution

The Swiss foreign minister has dismissed calls for Switzerland to back a campaign for paid United Nations internships via a resolution at the 70th UN General Assembly. He says Switzerland is ‘monitoring’ the situation while admitting some aspects are ‘unsatisfactory’.  In a written reply to Young Green Party activists from cantons Geneva and Vaud sent earlier this month, Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter ignored their calls to use his influence with other UN member states to sponsor a resolution for the introduction of a ‘monthly subsistence allocation’ for interns. He said Switzerland was “monitoring closely” the current situation.  Since the very public spectacle this summer of an unpaid United Nations intern who was living in a tent in Geneva to save money, there has been a global outpouring of criticism and debate about the international organisation's use of unpaid internships. There were approximately 4,000 UN interns in 2014, or 10% of total staff, mostly unpaid.