UNITED
NATIONS, May 7
-- The auctioning
of an
internship in
the UN for
over
$20,000
was exposed by
Inner City
Press on May
1 and
asked about
since then,
for four days
in a row. But
UN spokesman
Martin Nesikry
on May 6
complained to
Inner City
Press he was
answering "for
the umpteenth
time."
Four
days of
questions is
not
"umpteenth,"
which by
definition
must be more
than twelve.
And
on the fifth
day, May 7,
Nesirky ended
the briefing
abruptly, amid
a
question about
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
Syria chemical
weapons
prober Ake
Sellstrom, video here.
So
Inner City
Press could
not
answer an
obvious follow
up about the
internship,
which is still
being
auctioned,
under
photograph of
UN
Headquarters.
On
May 6, Inner
City Press
asked:
Inner
City Press:
this
internship at
the UN
question, just
one follow-up.
I have spoken
this morning
with a P5
member of the
Security
Council
who suggested
that the UN’s
remedy may be
to not allow
someone who
wins the
internship for
$26,000 to
actually come
in. I am not
aware
of that being
something the
UN could do.
What’s the
UN’s
thinking? Is
there any
update? Can
you respond to
the suggestion
by
a mission to
the UN that
that’s what
the UN either
could or
should
do?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well, just to
repeat, for
the umpteenth
time, Matthew,
that
the internship
being
auctioned off
on this
website,
charitybuzz.com,
is not a
United Nations
internship.
The details of
the internship
in
question have
been amended
on the website
to clarify
that the
internship is
not with the
United
Nations. And,
as we have
said
repeatedly —
and I just
said just now
— internships
at the United
Nations are
not for sale
and they
cannot be put
up for
auction.
Inner
City Press:
So, when it
says a way to
learn how the
UN works and
to
get your foot
in the door,
does that mean
a foot in the
door with a
particular NGO
or with the UN
system?
Spokesperson:
As I have
said, Matthew,
internships at
the United
Nations are
not
up for sale
and the
details of the
internship in
question have
been
amended on the
website.
Inner
City Press wrote about
the scandal,
again, on the
evening of May
6
(it was
another of
Inner City
Press' pieces
that night
with which
Nesirky took
issue on May
7, taking out
a print out
and reading
from
it, video
here.)
Then
on the morning
of May 7 the
head of
Outreach for
the UN
Department of
Public
Information
Maher Nasser
took out his
own print out,
of the
auction ad as
amended, and
said "this
hurts the UN."
Video
here, from
Minute 2:05.
He said it is
now "in
the media."
The ad says
the auction benefits
the RFK Young
Leaders, a
part of the
RFK Center,
whose press
contact
Meaghan E.
Baron did not
respond to
detailed
messages left
by the Press
on both of her
listed
numbers.
Nasser
said
the UN will
not
necessarily
let in the
person who
wins the
internship
(currently one
"m. alam" for
$26,000),
"because we
control
the process"
-- precisely
what Inner
City Press
asked Nesirky
about the day
before.
If
Nesirky had
not so
abruptly ended
the briefing,
it might have
been
possible to
get his gloss
on what seems
to be a split
between DPI
and
the UN Office
of Legal
Affairs under
Patricia
O'Brien. They
have had
the case since
May 1, but the
image of the
UN, and the
language about
"foot in the
door," remain
in the ad.
We'll
have more on
the Office of
Legal Affairs
tomorrow.
Watch this
site.
, 
