Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris made the observation during the opening of a three-day military seminar hosted by the government to share the lessons of its victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009.

The conference in the capital Colombo began amid a renewed push by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and some Western nations for an international probe into allegations war crimes happened in the quarter-century conflict's last phase.

"The entire body of international law must be revisited," Peiris, a law professor, told the conference. "It was developed during a time of war between state actors. Surely the principles have to be revamped, because it is asymmetrical now."

Rights groups have urged a boycott of the seminar called "Defeating Terrorism-Sri Lankan Experience", which Sri Lankan ally and top weapons supplier China is co-sponsoring.

Sri Lanka invited 53 countries, and at least 40 including Russia, Brazil, and other Asian and African nations sent delegates, officials said. Several Western nations declined invitations, although the United States sent a military attaché.