The Mediterranean crossing continues to be the deadliest migrant route worldwide: 19,000 migrants have been reported dead or missing since October 3, 2013. So far this year, the crossing has claimed over 1,000 victims.
Thirty European cities will hold events to promote a petition to declare October 3 "European Day of Memory and Welcoming," in commemoration of a shipwreck off Lampedusa on October 3, 2013, in which more than 360 migrants died.
The Protestant Church is calling for a political solution to the migration crisis in Europe. The Catholic Church's bishop council declined to say whether it would implement a similar measure.
Boats carrying migrants wishing to make it to the EU continue to land on Italian shores, despite interior minister Matteo Salvini's 'closed ports' policy. On Saturday, 46 Algerians landed on Sardinia.
Following another shipwreck in the Mediterreanean Sea, UN refugee agency UNHCR said it is "unacceptable" that these tragedies happen. It is calling for restoring an official search and rescue (SAR) system as soon as possible.
![A migrant rescue ship carrying 41 migrants enters the port of Lampedusa, Sicily [from our archives] | Photo: ANSA/ ELIO DESIDERIO](https://scd.infomigrants.net//media/resize/my_image_big/9b272bd3c6c37fa30ebb24c76da5df42a0069c89.jpeg)
A boat with 48 migrants onboard has reached Lampedusa without aid. According to witness reports, the migrants traveled for two days after leaving Libya and several people, including a five-month old baby boy, died at sea.
Tunisian authorities stopped about 100 people who were trying to reach Italy without a visa over the weekend, according to the Tunisian interior ministry.
Italy has announced that it will allow 116 rescued migrants currently on the Italian Coast Guard's Gregoretti vessel to disembark "within hours," bringing the latest standoff with the European Union regarding the redistribution of migrants rescued at sea to an end.
A German rescue boat has picked up 44 people that were stranded off the Libyan coast. The rescue comes a day after the same boat handed over 65 migrants to Malta.
The UN Migration Agency (IOM), following the migrant killing at the Tajoura detention center in Libya, said 3,000 migrants and refugees are still arbitrarily detained in and around Tripoli.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR has issued a warning that Mediterranean sea crossings have become increasingly dangerous for migrants. Analyzing statistical data, a representative of the UN refugee agency says that drownings have become much more likely to occur in recent years, partly due to changing refugee policies in the EU.
The standoff between Sea-Watch 3 and the Italian government ended with the arrest of Captain Carola Rackete, who now faces prosecution. But international maritime law and a country's own laws often don't chime.