Migration Policy Practice is a bimonthly journal published jointly by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Eurasylum Ltd. It only contributes articles from, and is overseen by, senior officials in Government, EU and international organizations, as well as civil society worldwide, working in the field of migration policy.

This new issue of MPP covers a range of policy areas including border control and identity management in the Schengen area, issues of disaster preparedness, and migration and development. In addition, the lead article presents new data on the global scale of internal migration from the Gallup World Poll 2011–2012.

The first article, by Neli Esipova, Julie Ray and Anita Pugliese, from Gallup, shows that 8 per cent of adults have moved within their countries in the past five years. Gallup estimates that 381 million adults worldwide can be counted as internal migrants during this period. Cross-national comparisons of internal migration are relatively rare, because countries often use different definitions for internal migration, and data quality in developing countries tends to be poor.

The second article, by Peter Graham, looks at emerging methods of controlling people travelling into and out of the Schengen area, and at ways in which technology can alter existing identity management solutions. 

The third article, by Howard Duncan, examines the situation of foreign nationals in large-scale disasters by looking at the case of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan. The article explains that there are many factors that determine the choice of foreign nationals to stay or leave and that disaster planning needs to take account of the situation of large foreign national populations, not only with respect to their needs in emergencies, but also with regard to their ability to contribute to the response.

The fourth article, by Andrea Riester, looks into the challenges facing migration experts when discussing, with development experts, and the importance of taking migration issues into account when planning development interventions. The article examines, in particular, some of the common perceptions of migration by development stakeholders and suggests ways to address these perceptions and to move forward in integrating migration into international cooperation.

The fifth article, by Davide Mosca, Barbara Rijks and Caroline Schultz, examines current gaps and good practices in ensuring social protection in health for migrant workers. The article argues, in particular, that as both migration and health are enablers for development, health should be discussed in important migration and development debates such as the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) and the High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development (HLD).

The last article offers a short interview of Khalid Malik, Director of the Human Development Report Office in UNDP, on the Key findings of the Human Development Report 2013 in the field of migration.

Should you wish to contribute an article for a future issue of this journal, please contact Solon Ardittis (sardittis@eurasylum.org) and Frank Laczko (flaczko@iom.int).