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.

The SLFP's vice president, Nimal Siripala de Silva thanked President Maithripala Sirisena for his "achievements" at the UN and said Sri Lanka's delegation had been successful in watering down the resolution to some extent, the Daily Mirror reported.

However the minister said the implementation of recommendations given by the OHCHR Investigation in Sri Lanka (OISL) would create legal issues and be problematic to implement.

“The UNHRC report says that Sri Lanka needs to adopt feasibility legislation, specific legislation to facilitate a hybrid court mandated to probe war crimes committed by security forces personnel. We will need to change our Constitution in order to make room for a hybrid court, and we can’t make these happen overnight,” he said to press on Thursday.

Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the government would request the EU to reissue the GSP+ trade concessions, as the human rights issue "had come to an end", the DailyMirror reported.

Speaking to trade unionists on Wednesday, the prime minister said Minister of Foreign Affairs Mangala Samaraweera would make the request from the European Union on Thursday.

Earlier this year the prime minster had pledged that the concessions would be restored after September's UN Human Rights Council session.

The previous government had blamed Mr Wickremesinghe for the concessions being withdrawn, after the EU stated it was concerned over human rights abuses.

The Sri Lankan president said his government wants to contribute more troops to United nations peacekeeping missions, addressing the Leaders' Summit on Peacekeeping at the United Nations in New York on Monday.

Maithripala Sirisena said “Sri Lanka is pleased to reiterate our continued commitment to UN peacekeeping” stating there would be “significant contributions from the Sri Lanka Army, Air Force and Police”.

“We are committed to ensuring the best possible training and assessment of peacekeepers in Sri Lanka to uphold the highest standards of peacekeeping,” he added.

Mr Sirisena pledged two Combat Transport Companies, two Field Engineering platoons, one infantry battalion, two Special Force Companies, one Combat Engineering Company, three Infantry Battalions, one Explosive Ordinance Disposal Company and one Force Protection Company, in addition to two Formed Police Units.

Sri Lankan troops have been accused of sexually abusing Haitian minors whilst on a previous peacekeeping mission. 111 soldiers and 3 officers were repatriated back to Sri Lanka after being part of UN mission in Haiti and were accused of a string of sexual assaults, including rape of children as young as 7 years old.

No one has yet been charged with any offences.