UN Secretary-GeneralAntonio Guterres (L) speaks at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 19, 2017. The 2017 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) kicked off in Davos on Jan. 17 and will last to Jan. 20. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan)

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has made it a priority for the United Nations to have a whistleblower protection policy that meets the highest possible standards, a spokesman said here Monday.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the Secretary-General, said at the daily news briefing that Gurerress has just approved a policy to provide better protection for individuals who report possible misconduct or cooperate with duly authorized audits or investigations.

Staff and management both agreed on the policy, contained in a bulletin that was just issued, said Dujarric.

Major policy changes include that the Ethics Office and Office of Internal Oversight Services will now be able to take preventive action where a risk of retaliation has been identified, he said.

The policy affords protection from retaliation to whistleblowers who report wrongdoing committed not only by staff but also by contractors, non-UN peacekeepers and others, he said, citing another change which says "complainants will be notified of disciplinary measures taken against staff members found to have retaliated against them."

The Secretary General has also tasked an internal working group to examine whether the policy on protection against retaliation should be further expanded to also provide more protections for consultants and individual contractors.

He has given the working group a deadline of June 30, 2017 to come back with their recommendations on this, according to Dujarric.

On the first day at the helm of the United Nations, Guterres pledged to work for peace, development and a reformed United Nations.