Sri Lanka has rejected calls for co-operation with a UN investigation into war crimes and vowed it will not subject itself to the jurisdiction of the world's highest rights body.
Foreign Minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris said Sri Lanka will not allow United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay to launch an investigation mandated under a US-initiated resolution adopted last month.
"We will not submit ourselves to this process," Peiris told the Foreign Correspondents' Association of Sri Lanka in Colombo.
"Sri Lanka will not participate in this inquiry."
Peiris's remarks came a week after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked Colombo to engage "constructively" and co-operate with the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to implement a resolution calling for an international inquiry into atrocities by both sides.
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President Mahinda Rajapakse said soon after the motion that he rejected it.
However, the foreign minister's statement on Monday was the strongest refusal yet to co-operate with any UN probe.
The UN has also set aside a budget of nearly $US1.5 million ($A1.62 million) for the investigation and the office of the High Commissioner is expected to present a final report by March 2015.
"We have taken a clear policy decision that we will not subject ourselves to the jurisdiction of the (UN Human Rights) Commissioner," Peiris said.
However, he added Colombo remains engaged with other UN agencies addressing a wide range of other issues from health and education to war-displaced people.
Asked if Colombo will try to stop foreigners visiting the island as part of the UN probe, Peiris said: "No one can come here without the co-operation of the government of Sri Lanka."
He insisted Colombo will press ahead with its own reconciliation process five years after crushing Tamil Tiger rebels and declaring an end to 37 years of ethnic war which the UN estimates claimed at least 100,000 lives.
The UNHRC adopted the resolution calling for a "comprehensive investigation into alleged serious violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes by both parties in Sri Lanka" on March 27.
