Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says the proposed United Nations investigation of war crimes in Sri Lanka is not the best way forward.

Ms Bishop said the Australian government considered engagement with Sri Lanka to be the most effective way to encourage progress on human rights issues.

Genuine advances in accountability and reconciliation will only be possible with the co-operation of the Sri Lankan government, she said.

That follows the UN decision on Thursday to launch an inquiry into war crimes allegedly committed by both Sri Lankan state forces and Tamil rebels during the long-running conflict that ended in 2009.

Ms Bishop said this resolution was passed by the UN Human Rights Council of which Australia was not a member and did not vote.

‘Nevertheless I am not convinced that the resolution’s call for a separate, internationally-led investigation, without the co-operation of the Sri Lankan government, is the best way forward at this time,’ she said in a statement.

Ms Bishop said the resolution also did not adequately recognise the significant progress taken by the Sri Lankan government to promote economic growth and its investment in areas formerly dominated by the LTTE rebels in the north and northeast of the country.

‘We should recognise the brutality of the LTTE, a prescribed terrorist organisation, during the 30-year civil war from which the country is struggling to emerge,’ she said.

Ms Bishop said Australia would increase efforts to work constructively with the Sri Lankan government, the Tamil National Alliance and other stakeholders to promote economic, social and cultural reconciliation.

‘I urge the Sri Lankan government to implement the recommendations of its Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, and to engage with domestic and international stakeholders to advance an effective and transparent reconciliation agenda,’ she said.