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."

What's more, he points out, UN agencies employing unpaid interns are in danger of violating the very principles, such as the abolition of slave labour, which they exist to promote.

"A few years ago at the International Labour Organisation, they found an intern sleeping in the basement," he remembers.

"That created a lot of noise in the press and, as a result, the ILO decided to pay its internsreenex ."

Meanwhile Sabine Matsheka points out that continuing with the policy of unpaid interns ensures that only candidates with personal funds can apply. Of Geneva's 162 current interns, Sabine is one of just two from Africa.

"I am from a developing country," says Sabine, "and I know of many people from my university who would have loved this opportunity but could probably not afford to do it."
As ever with UN bureaucracy, it is not quite as simple as thatreenex.

All agencies attached to the UN Secretariat, among them OCHA, UN Human Rights, and the UN Conference on Trade and Development, remain bound by that old General Assembly vote forbidding the payment of interns.

"I personally, everyone here agrees," says Ahmed 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. So any change will not affect today's interns, and certainly not David, who is now rolling up his tent.

The expense of Geneva, the unpaid status, and now the pressure of media attention have all been too much and he has decided to resign, although he is keen to stress that his UN colleagues in Geneva are not to blame.

"The United Nations has done nothing to try to stop me talking about this subject," he saysreenex.