Public institutions and the private sector alike must provide

The European Commission is without doubt leading the way on internship policy, launching as it did the Quality Framework for Traineeships, which although a disappointment in terms of its scope, at least put the topic on the political agenda. It is disappointing, therefore, to note that  unpaid internships continue to be offered by the European Commission. Also individual MEPs in the European Parliament each year offer unpaid internships in their offices, with no guarantees of quality or a learning outcome.  Also, last week the  Geneva Interns Associationprotested against unpaid internships in UN, where 68% of internships are unpaid*.

The Youth Forum has been fighting against these increasingly prevailing practices, through for example the Youth Forum’s Employers’ Guide to Quality Internships: President of the European Parliament. In the preamble President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, stated that “the first professional experiences of young people in the labour market (must be) educational and fairly rewarded.”  Similarly, a written question to European Commission on the implementation of the above-mentioned Quality Framework was signed by 75 MEPs. The Youth Forum is delighted that, since then, four MEPs (Kostas Chrysogonos (GUE), Nessa Childers (S&D), Krystyna Lybacka (S&D) and Tanja Fajon (S&D)) have endorsed its European Quality Charter for Internships and Apprenticeships and we call on more to follow their lead! We join them in calling on public institutions, as well as the private sector, to stop poor quality internships and ensure that internships are the valuable stepping stone into the working world, by ensuring that young people have fair conditions – including remuneration – as well as a good quality learning experience.

      The European Youth Forum calls for an end to the ongoing abuse of young people through unpaid, poor quality internships which are rife in many industries and sectors and, unfortunately, continue to be prevalent in European and international institutions. 

   For more information please visit the website *https://www.devex.com/news/ngos-addicted-to-free-intern-labor-86509

copyright by the official webpage of European Youth Forum.