UNITED
NATIONS, May 3
-- Now the UN
insists its
Office of
Legal Affairs
is
working hard
on the
"unusual"
auction, now
for $22,000,
of
a "internship
at the UN."
But how can it
be that the UN
and OLA have
accomplished
nothing? Inner
City Press first wrote
about this on
the morning of
May 1 and
asked about it
at that day's
noon briefing.
Since
then Inner
City Press
reported that
a bidder named
"Aygul"
was ahead,
bidding
$22,000. The
RFK Center,
for which the
auction is
being
conducted, has
not provided
any
explanation.
Yet
again at the May 3
noon briefing,
the UN said it
was still
trying to
figure out
what was going
on, and
told Inner
City Press not
to be
critical of
the lack of
results. (TNRS
coverage).
And
alongside
Inner City
Press' May 3
noon briefing
questions, the
bidding on
the
"internship in
the UN
building" went
higher, with a
bid
by "m. alam"
for $26,000. From
the UN's May 3
transcript:
Inner
City Press: On
this
internship
question, I am
assuming that
when you
have more you
will say more,
but yesterday
I was saying,
that they
could contact
NGO, and I am
looking again
at this page.
It seems
pretty
straightforward
that an NGO
that is
accredited to
the UN
shouldn’t be
offering an
internship at
the UN for
$22,000; and
the
bidding is
still open.
So, does the
UN intend to
somehow take
action
on this while
the bidding is
open? Can the
person who is
currently
bidding
$22,000
actually enter
the UN as an
intern under
the terms
that were
offered?
Spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky:
Matthew, we
have said very
clearly that
internships
at the United
Nations are
not for sale.
Internships at
the United
Nations,
United Nations
internships,
are unpaid. I
also said
yesterday that
the Office of
Legal Affairs
is looking
into it, and
that includes
contacting a
number of
people. You
seem to assume
what
is and is not
being done.
And I don’t
think that is
right to do
that. They are
doing their
job to find
out. It
obviously does
look
unusual, to
say the very
least, and we
are trying to
find out the
full details.
And once we
have something
further to
say, we will.
But just to
repeat that
United Nations
internships
are simply not
for
sale. And
furthermore,
they are
unpaid.
But
again, this is
the same UN
Office of
Legal Affairs
which after 15
months of
delay tersely
ruled that all
claims about
the UN
bringing
cholera to
Haiti were
"not
receivable."
So, no, we do
not
have
confidence in
them cleaning
this up. Watch
this site.
, 
