The Greens have renewed calls for the government to process Sri Lankan asylum seekers who have spent 100 days on an unseaworthy vessel docked in Indonesia.
The Indonesian navy intercepted the Tamils at Australia's request and they were taken to the Javan port of Merak in October.
The Tamils do not want to disembark the rickety cargo boat because they fear they will be forced to wait years for resettlement.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who's joining a protest vigil for the Sri Lankans in Melbourne today, said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's treatment of the asylum seekers was inhumane.
The people on board are living in squalid conditions and people are being struck down with illness.
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A man died from a stomach disorder on Christmas Eve and a sick two-year-old boy had reportedly been refused adequate medical treatment, she said.
"The prime minister wants us to believe that he has a tough, but humane, approach," Ms Hanson-Young said.
"There is nothing that is humane about setting up a situation where women and children fearing for their futures and their lives sitting on a leaky boat docked in Indonesia.”
"Kevin Rudd caused this situation and it's up to him to come up with a resolution."
The federal government has said it will take its fair share of the Merak asylum seekers if they are found to be refugees by the United Nations.
According to Ms Hanson-Young, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has already determined that more than 100 are genuine refugees.
The refugee activists are gathering outside Mr Rudd's Sydney office today ahead of the protest vigils in Melbourne, Newcastle and Perth.
There will also be vigils outside Australian consulates in Auckland, Toronto and London.
