Each term, the Committee has a number of students (undergraduate and graduate) as interns. The internship gives students excellent exposure to how nongovernmental organizations work within the UN system. Interns receive passes to the UN, so that they may attend any open sessions of the General Assembly, the Security Council, or conferences. They may also use their passes to conduct research in the UN library. Interns are expected to do some administrative work in the office (see below), but they are encouraged to initiate their own work plan, which normally includes writing projects.

The following are jobs around the office that individual interns take on:

• answering phones, as well as inquiries by phone or email
• phoning Board members to remind them of meetings and certain obligations
• downloading email and arranging it into mailboxes
• updating the membership database
• updating the Web site and the Disarmament Calendar
• transcribing our panel discussions
• “library work”: organizing files of disarmament organizations
• “library work”: organizing our content files (on specific disarmament topics)
• sorting the mail
• sending faxes

The following are things that our interns do at the UN:

• personing tables in the lobby during our panel events and escorting participants to meeting rooms
• arranging our materials for events at the UN
• helping logistically coordinate the actual panels
• accompanying president, vice-president or office manager to meetings in the First Committee (for fall interns) and to meetings at the Department for Disarmament Affairs
• visiting the UN Department of Public Information Resource Center to collect UN materials of interest to our office
• researching topics in the UN library for Website content, reports, or preparation for panel discussions

Most of all, interns need to take the initiative in saying what their strengths are and what kind of assignments would interest them most. Also, what is on the UN and NGO Committee’s schedule for the term during which they areinterning will determine much of what interns will be doing.

HOW TO APPLY:

Applicants should send a cover letter, resume (listing two references) and a 5-10 page writing sample to:

NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace, and Security
Attn: Internship Coordinator
777 UN Plaza, Suite 3B
New York, NY 10017

or via email to disarmtimes@igc.org.

Applicants are reminded to state in their cover letters for which term (fall, winter/spring, or summer) they are applying for an internship.

Please keep in mind that these are unpaid internships, and that students with academic backgrounds in international relations and arms control/disarmament receive preferential treatment in the hiring process.