Migration patterns have shifted dramatically in recent years, with human flows travelling further and in larger numbers than ever before. There is reason to believe that migration is likely to become a defining issue of the 21st century because of an increasing number of failed states and generalised violence, but also environmental change and food insecurity, and greater human mobility with globalisation, thus becoming the ‘new normal’. This will lead to increased challenges for international, national and regional policy-makers to agree collective solutions, and challenges for those displaced on their journeys. What global/regional/national/civil society strategies might be adopted to alleviate the issues and difficulties faced by the displaced who have left their communities? Specifically, what can lawyers and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), working together, do to contribute?