FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: gic@gmail.com
INTERNATIONAL YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS CALL FOR END TO UNPAID INTERNSHIPS ON INTERNATIONAL INTERNS’ DAY
Partner Organizations Represent Youth-Led Organizations Around the World
GENEVA – In recognition of International Interns’ Day (November 10th, 2022), global advocacy groups Pay Our Interns, The Intern’s Foundation, The Fair Internship Initiative, and Humanitarian Women’s Network, along with a global coalition of international youth and labor organizations, are coming together to announce the formation of a Global Internship Coalition, and a forthcoming ambition statement for fair, equitable and paid internships.
“We’re making the strategic decision to join forces for this year’s International Intern’s Day,” said Dana Rodriguez, co-founder of The Intern’s Foundation. “Our mutual work on workforce, labor, youth, and equity issues, have always run parallel. But now, we’re putting our resources together to ensure we can advocate for paid and equitable internships globally.”
“Our coalition consists of organizations from different backgrounds and experiences,” said Carlos Mark Vera, Executive Director of Pay Our Interns. “But we’re all unified in having worked unpaid or underpaid internships at some point in our lives. So, it’s with that momentum in mind, that we’re coming together and calling for the end to unpaid and unfair internships globally.”
“By uniting our voices, we intend to form a global coalition to change internship programs for the better,” said a representative of the Fair Internship Initiative. “Through this coalition, it’s our hope that we can make sure future generations of interns won’t have to continue the cycle of unpaid internships.”
With internships increasingly becoming necessary stepping stones into full-time careers, unpaid positions reduce the number of young professionals who take on these career-critical roles. The 2019-2020 FII Report showed that 87% of unpaid interns surveyed came from high or upper-middle-income countries. This restricts career development opportunities to only a select few, and promotes an inherent lack of diversity at many organizations.
The ambition statement will be released in early 2023, once all signatories have signed on. To learn more about the Global Internship Coalition, please visit their website.
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About Pay Our Interns:
Pay Our Interns was founded in 2016, by two former unpaid interns of color. Pay Our Interns is leading the fight to end unpaid internships across all sectors, with the aim of creating accessible career pathways for young people, particularly those from historically excluded communities. For more information, visit https://www.payourinterns.org.
About The Intern’s Foundation:
The Intern’s Foundation was founded in 2021 with the goal of minimizing the financial burden on students and interns from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds until more sustainable policies are being introduced at organizational levels. For more information, visit https://www.theinternsfoundation.org
About The Fair Internship Initiative:
The Fair Internship Initiative is a network of current, former and aspiring United Nations interns and young professionals advocating since 2015 for quality and equally accessible internships within the United Nations System. For more information, visit: https://fairinternshipinitiative.wordpress.com/