UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has called for compensation for thousands of Haitians who have died in a cholera outbreak.

Ms Pillay did not specify on Tuesday exactly who she thought should pay out, but activists have demanded that the UN provides compensation to the victims of a disease which is believed to have been brought into the country by UN peacekeepers.

"I have used my voice both inside the United Nations and outside to call for the right [to compensation], for an investigation by the United Nations and by the country concerned.

"And I still stand by the call that victims - those who suffered as a result of that cholera - be provided with compensation," Ms Pillay said at an awards ceremony for human rights activists in Geneva.

However, the UN maintains that it has legal immunity from such compensation claims.

The commissioner's remarks followed a complaint filed by the Boston-based Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) and a Haiti-based law firm run by Haitian advocate Mario Joseph.

The cholera outbreak in Haiti during 2010 killed more than 8,000 people.

Scientific studies have shown that the disease was likely to have been introduced to the country by UN troops from Nepal, where the disease is endemic.

Ms Pillay said she first raised the compensation issue almost a year ago.

Nicole Phillips, a lawyer for the IJDH, said that Ms Pillay's "public support for the cholera victims' claims could be a game-changer in their claims against the UN."