The former NSA contractor Edward Snowden misused his right to digital access and has created problems that outweigh the benefits of public disclosure, the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon has said.

Speaking to a gathering of the foreign affairs committee of the Icelandic parliament in Reykjavik on Tuesday, Ban said that in his personal opinion "the Snowden case is something I consider to be misuse." The UN chief added that the opening up of digital communications should not be "misused in such a way as Snowden did".

Ban's remarks, recorded in notes taken by two people present at the meeting and confirmed by a third, provoked expressions of surprise from committee members. His depiction of Snowden as someone who had misused access to information came just hours after the NSA whistleblower made a formal request for asylum to the Icelandic government.

In interviews with the Guardian, Snowden identified Iceland as one of his top choices as a possible safe haven.

Birgitta Jónsdóttir, a member of the committee who was present at the meeting, asked Ban to clarify his comments on whistleblowers. He replied: "Access can be for the greater good, but sometimes it creates bigger problems through misuse by individuals."

Jónsdóttir, who participated with WikiLeaks in 2010 at the time it published US state secrets leaked by the intelligence analyst Bradley Manning, said she was alarmed by Ban's intervention in the Snowden controversy. "I see it as wrong for the secretary general of the United Nations to condemn Snowden personally in front of our foreign affairs committee. He seemed entirely unconcerned about the invasion of privacy by governments around the world, and only concerned about how whistleblowers are misusing the system."

One of the revelations of the documents leaked by Snowden was that the US National Security Agency spied on the offices of the European Union inside the UN building in New York. Asked about the snooping at the UN, Ban told reporters that the inviolability of diplomatic missions was sacrosanct under international law.

"I hope this will be resolved through dialogue so that the case will not affect existing friendly, cooperative relationships among the parties concerned."

The UN claims in its own internal procedures to respect and protect the rights of whistleblowers. In a statement posted on the website of the UN's ethics office, Ban writes: "Our Organization will not tolerate retaliation against anyone who reports misconduct or participates in an audit or internal investigation."

But the UN's ethics office was last year criticised by the international organisation's own internal dispute tribunal as having a "fundamentally flawed" mechanism for dealing with whistleblowers. The ruling was issued in a case brought by a former UN employee against the secretary-general.

The tribunal found that the UN had failed to protect the basic rights of the employee who was sacked and detained by UN police after he sounded the alarm over corruption in the UN mission in Kosovo. Freedom of information groups have accused the UN of tolerating a culture of impunity in its treatment of whistleblowers.

In his remarks to the Icelandic foreign affairs committee, Ban said that privacy was a fundamental principle and he also emphasised the importance of freedom of speech and information. But he went on to say that "as we spend greater time and put more information into all different types of communications, like for example social media, individuals have to show more responsibility. The rights gained by this new right of access should not be misused, it should be used responsibly."

The spokesman's office of the UN secretary general in New York declined to confirm or deny Ban's comments to the Icelandic committee on grounds that it had been a private meeting.

Snowden is currently believed to be in international limbo in a Moscow airport. The office of the prime minister of Iceland, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson , told the Guardian that the application for asylum would only be considered once Snowden was in the country – a Catch-22 as the 30-year-old has had his US passport revoked and is unable to travel.