The Sri Lankan foreign ministry has confirmed that Sri Lanka’s ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council spoke with government approval, when delivering interventions at discussions regarding the resolution last week.

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron said the resolution on Sri Lanka, passed at the Human Rights Council on Thursday, was a "crucial step" towards uncovering the truth about alleged war crimes and ensuring accountability.

In a statement released on Friday, Mr Cameron pledged Britain's commitment to stand up for those affected by the armed conflict.

The prime minister welcomed Sri Lanka's commitment to ensuring perpetrators of war crimes are held to account and encouraged the government to continue working with the UN.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena told the United Nations that his government had “succeeded in eliminating terrorism” and was willing to share their experience with other countries.

Addressing the 70th United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, Mr Sirisena said:

“Sri Lanka succeeded in eliminating terrorism, which continues to throttle other developing countries extending from Asia to Africa and Latin America".

“We defeated one of the world's most ruthless terror outfits,” added Mr Sirisena.

“We believe that all these experiences can be shared fruitfully with other developing countries affected by terrorism,” he said. “Sri Lanka remains prepared to engage in a more active dialogue with these countries and will continue to speak and advocate against terrorism.”

A Sri Lankan army division accused of war crimes handed out spectacles to Tamil civilians last weekend, whilst another division held an eye clinic in the North-East.

On Saturday September 26, military officials handed out glasses to Tamil civilians at a ceremony in Kilinochchi, in a project coordinated by the 57 Division and 571 Brigade.

The 57 Division was led by Major General Jagath Dias during the final stages of the armed conflict, which saw tens of thousands of Tamil civilians killed. Maj Gen Dias, who was recently promoted by Sri Lanka’s new government, stands accused of commanding war crimes that the division committed.

Welcoming the adoption of a UN Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom said Sri Lanka “must address the difficult legacy of its past”.

UK Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire “welcomed the adoption of an important and historic resolution,” stating the “United Kingdom pushed hard for a UN process that would shine a light on a traumatic period in Sri Lanka’s history”.

The head of Sri Lanka's Missing Person Commission, Justice Maxwell Paranagama, rejected UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al Hussain's call to disband the commission established by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, and establish a new, more credible mechanism to deal with the issue.

“We have been very transparent in our functioning. There were no armed forces or police personnel in the room where people testified. We held several sittings in the Tamil-speaking North and East and Colombo and examined 19,000 people including 16,000 from the North and East. The response to our call for testimonies was so good that if we sent out notices to 300 for a session, 1000 would turn up, and no one was turned away. Transport was arranged for people to go back to their villages if the sittings went late into the evening,” Mr Paranagama told The New Indian Express on Thursday.

Speaking in an interview to Thanthi TV last week, Ms Pillay stated “the law is clear, nobody can grant amnesty, no government can grant amnesty for these serious crimes”.

In a wide ranging interview the former UN human rights chief explored the question of whether a genocide had occurred, stating that it was up to a court of law to make the final decision. She said a court would have to find if “there was a deliberate intention to destroy for instance the Tamil population,” adding “I notice that even the discussion on evidence of sexual violence against woman and girls is reported to be systematic and intentional to destroy the Tamil group”.

“The genocide convention is clear, the intention is not required for destruction of the whole group,” added Ms Pillay, in response to the question that not all Tamils on the island were killed during the final stages of the armed conflict. “So it does not require the intention to destroy the whole of the Tamil group. The fact that some were killed and others not does not retract from the statute, which says “destruction in whole or in part of a group””.

She also noted that “even failure to stop genocide from happening is a crime”. “This is what the International Court of Justice said about Serbia,” added Ms Pillay. “So failing to prevent. So if you acknowledge and fail to stop your soldiers from committing these crimes then that is also a crime of genocide, a crime against humanity.”

Ms Pillay also spoke on the role of the international community, highlighting in particular India’s failure to stop the massacres from occurring. India “could have helped to prevent the deaths of almost 40,000 people,” she stated.