In this chapter, Sjur Bergan, Letizia Brambilla Pisoni, Chiara Finocchietti, Luca Lantero, Stig Arne Skjerven, and Kateryna Suprun examine a very specific case: the recognition of refugees’ qualifications in cases where these cannot be adequately documented. The chapter focuses on the European Qualifications Passport for Refugees (EQPR), developed by the Council of Europe and partners in response to the “refugee crisis” in Europe from summer 2015 onward. The EQPR was developed to help improve implementation of Article VII of the LRC and complements a recommendation adopted by the LRCC in November 2017 (Council of Europe and UNESCO 2017). This chapter also describes UNESCO’s efforts to develop a similar instrument, the Qualifications Passport for Refugees and Vulnerable Migrants (UQP), under the Global Convention. On the basis of the Italian experience, the chapter further describes how refugees’ qualifications can be recognized at national level, how refugees can be given opportunities to undertake further studies or enter the labor market on the basis of the EQPR and, more broadly, how the EQPR can be integrated into national strategies for refugees. Not least, the chapter examines the case of Ukrainian refugees in the wake of the Russian invasion in February 2022. One specificity of this case is that the Ukrainian authorities themselves are playing a very active role in helping their own citizens who have had to flee the country, both to help them gain access to studies and employment in their host countries and to help them return to Ukraine when conditions allow.
