The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) appointed Dr Deepika Udahama as its new chairperson, reports adaderana.lk.

The body appointed a further 4 people as commissioners, including Lionel Fernando, Saliya Pieris, Gazali Hussain and Ambika Satkunathan.

The commission was initially set up in 1996 with the aim of fostering a culture of human rights in Sri Lanka.

Thousands of people rallied in Colombo against a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka on Monday.

The rally, organised by the joint opposition, saw leading figures from several parties in attendance, including the SLFP, National Freedom Front, Communist Party and several former government ministers.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena praised the Air Force on Monday for its contribution to “national security” and for directly attacking “the enemy”.

Speaking at a ceremony on Monday, Mr Sirisena said,

A Sri Lankan government commissioned report said "there can be no effective domestic mechanism for the purpose investigating international crimes,” according to a leak document obtained by Channel 4 News.

Sections of the “Missing Person's Commission”, also known as the Parangama Commission, led by retired Sri Lankan High Court Judge Maxwell Paranagama, said that unless Sri Lankan domestic law incorporated international crimes, a domestic accountability mechanism would not be effective. "Military Courts of Inquiry, in these circumstances, may appear to lack the impartiality and independence to inspire confidence," said the report.

The report also concludes that video evidence of extra-judicial killings committed by Sri Lankan troops is "unlikely to be faked".

Speaking on the evidence of the killing of Balachandran Prabhakaran the report said “clearly if this allegation is proved, this a clear breach of the laws of war". "In the Commission's view, the Channel 4 programmes provide enough material to form a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes may have been committed, warranting an investigation," said the report, adding it was "mindful of the fact that forensic pathology and other corroborative expert evidence support the video footage as genuine."

Sections of the report go on to quote the former Chief of Staff of the Sri Lankan Army, Major General Udaya Perera, as saying, "more than the Government of Sri Lanka, it is we, the army who should take responsibility, if that cowardly killing happened at the hands of our men".

The Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS) said it found “no credible evidence” that an official had solicited “sexual favours” from Tamil war widows in return for houses from an Indian government-funded project.

In a press release on Tuesday the organisation said it takes “any allegation of this nature extremely seriously and appropriate action was immediately taken to investigate the complaint”.

“In its conclusions, the panel found no credible evidence to support the complaint relating to misconduct on the part of the SLRCS technical officer,” stated the press release.

It continued to say “the panel did find that the allegations had an internal dimension which will be addressed in accordance with the constitution of the SLRCS” and the report and documents from the inquiry was handed over to Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Law & Order & Prison Reforms.

Though the inquiry found no evidence of wrong doing, the Sunday Times had earlier reported SLRCS Kilinochchi Branch Secretary Thampu Sethupathy had received more than 30 written and verbal complaints with similar allegations of demands for sexual favours.

Sri Lanka’s Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said the security forces will be ordered to cut the fishing nets of Indian fishermen who come into Sri Lankan waters, reports the Sunday Times.

Stating that the arrest and detention of Indian fishermen and their equipment had failed to stop them from entering Sri Lankan waters, Mr Amaraweera said that new official orders would be sent round soon.

“We have also decided that any of the Indian fishermen’s detained boats will not be released,” he said.

The Sri Lankan army and police arrested a group of deserters in a joint operation this week, reports The Island.

The deserters were arrested in the villages of Kabalgastenna, Watagalatenna, Udahena, Kahatagastenna and Hingulwala.

Amnesties were declared for all deserters earlier year, with over 23,600 deserters having handed themselves over.

The United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Miroslav Jenča, will being a five day visit to Sri Lanka on Wednesday.

The visit comes following UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York last month.