Amnesty International has asked the Swiss federal government to investigate reports that child migrants arriving at the Swiss-Italian border are being prevented from joining family in Switzerland.
The head of the cantonal government of Ticino is warning that the border with Italy will have to be closed to refugees to stem the tide of asylum seekers entering Switzerland.
Italy's deputy foreign minister has visited Eritrea to discuss greater cooperation on areas such as migration in what was the first government visit to the country since 1997.
A priest at the head of an association helping survivors of immigrant shipwrecks in the Mediterranean on Thursday claimed mediators working with Italian police were in fact spies of the Eritrean regime.
Italy on Monday planned a large-scale deployment of forces in the Mediterranean to manage the influx of asylum seekers as the latest boatload carrying 137 migrants arrived on its shores.
When tragedy struck off Italy's coast last week, it was a Paris-based radio station that broke the news to Eritrea, home to a majority of the 300-plus men, women and children feared dead in the shipwreck.
More than 600 migrants from Eritrea, Pakistan, Syria and other countries landed on Italian shores on three boats between Monday night and Tuesday, coast guards said.
Seven immigrants drowned on Sunday during an attempted crossing to Italy by gripping on to a large tuna fishing cage towed by a trawler, according to witnesses from among the 95 people rescued by the coast guard.
