Programs to promote the employment of internally displaced persons (IDPs) should be aimed at improving the qualifications of people, and not at establishing quotas, Inna Drahanchuk, Deputy Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, has said.

"Not only internally displaced persons have a problem with employment, but displaced persons differ from other community members in the fact that they rent housing and that they have lost part of their professional achievements in the uncontrolled territory. I'm not saying that there should be a quota for the employment of internally displaced persons, because first of all we have to put professionalism on the first place. But the dialogue that we laid down in the Strategy is important for me regarding socially responsible business and business support for internally displaced persons ... The Strategy contains this mechanism, and not about the fact that internally displaced persons should take away the jobs of other community members in bad faith," Drahanchuk said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

Answering a clarifying question, whether it will be an issue of quotas for employment of IDPs or stimulating the employer to hire just IDPs, the Deputy Minister answered in the negative.

"There should be no quotas. First of all, this should concern the internally displaced persons themselves and help them find a place in the labor market faster. Here we are talking about re-profiling businesses and retraining people themselves," she said.

According to Drahanchuk, the task of the ministry is to create conditions for displaced persons so that they receive a sufficient level of qualifications.

"And when there will be a choice between an internally displaced person and another representative, so that preference is given to the displaced person, and not because he is internally displaced, but because he is a high-level specialist," she explained.

As reported, on October 28, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the Strategy for the Integration of Internally Displaced Persons and a plan for the implementation of medium-term solutions on internal displacement for the period until 2024. Among other things, the Strategy envisages the creation of programs to promote the employment of displaced persons.