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.
