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The mother of a young New Zealander forced to sleep in a tent in Geneva says she is "proud" he has started a debate about unpaid internships at the United Nations.
After the plight of David Hyde featured on the front page of a Swiss newspaper on Tuesday (Wednesday NZ Time) and on Wednesday (Thursday NZT), the 22-year-old from Christchurch told journalists outside the gates of the UN's European headquarters he had decided to resign.
"It's my own decision and I chose to resign because I felt that it would be too difficult to continue to focus on my work as an intern at this stage," said Hyde, who started his internship two weeks ago, AFP reported.
His Christchurch-based mother, Vicki Hyde, said she had not heard from her son yet and only knew what had been reported in the media.
She noted her son said the UN had been supportive, but he was "just finding it hard to focus on things".
"It would be a fairly stressful situation to be in. I really feel for my son and the awkward position he's in."
She was "astonished" by how far her son's story had spread, but said the issues he had raised about unpaid internships were "really interested" and needed to be discussed.
After the plight of David Hyde featured on the front page of a Swiss newspaper on Tuesday (Wednesday NZ Time) and on Wednesday (Thursday NZT), the 22-year-old from Christchurch told journalists outside the gates of the UN's European headquarters he had decided to resign.
"It's my own decision and I chose to resign because I felt that it would be too difficult to continue to focus on my work as an intern at this stage," said Hyde, who started his internship two weeks ago, AFP reported.
His Christchurch-based mother, Vicki Hyde, said she had not heard from her son yet and only knew what had been reported in the media.
She noted her son said the UN had been supportive, but he was "just finding it hard to focus on things".
"It would be a fairly stressful situation to be in. I really feel for my son and the awkward position he's in."
She was "astonished" by how far her son's story had spread, but said the issues he had raised about unpaid internships were "really interested" and needed to be discussed.
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