European Union member states today agreed that illegal migrants can be detained for up to 18 months and face a 5-year re-entry ban in a move which critics say will undermine human rights. Meanwhile a group of 27 migrants were landed at Birzebbugia after their boat was intercepted by the AFM off Marsaxlokk.

"This directive will establish a common set of rules applicable to third-country nationals staying illegally in the territory of member states," the EU said in a statement.

The draft law is yet to be agreed by EU lawmakers. Officials say the European parliament is deeply split on the issue and it is unclear if a vote set for next month will go ahead then.

The 18-month limit, already applied by Malta, is higher than the maximum detention in two thirds of the 27 EU states. Although EU states can keep a lower limit if they want, rights groups say it will tend to encourage authorities to lock up more illegal migrants.

"Accepting the proposed directive as it stands will seriously undermine the fundamental rights of the individuals concerned," rights group Amnesty International and the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) said in a joint statement.

"Amnesty International and ECRE consider entry bans prohibiting deportees from returning to Europe for up to five years to be a blunt and inappropriate instrument," they said.

The European Commission estimates there are up to 8 million illegal migrants in the bloc. More than 200,000 were arrested in the EU in the first half of 2007, fewer than 90,000 were expelled. Children can also be detained according to the text agreed by EU envoys, which says that this should be for the shortest appropriate period of time.

Currently, illegal migrants cannot be detained for more than 40 days in Spain and a year in Hungary, according to European Commission data. Germany already has an 18-month detention cap, while eight EU countries, which have higher caps or none at all would need to introduce the new EU limit. The new limit will be based on a first cap of six months that can be extended to 18 months under certain circumstances, including if the illegal migrant does not cooperate with the authorities.

The EU move comes after Italy on Wednesday made illegal immigration a jailable offence. Some 240 illegal migrants, who have embarked on a hunger strike in a church in Brussels to demand the right to stay, say the new EU law is unfair.

AFM INTERCEPTS MIGRANTS' BOAT

Meanwhile an AFM patrol boat this afternoon intercepted a boat carrying migrants off Marsaxlokk. The boat was escorted to Birzebbugia. It carried 24 men and three women.