Peacekeepers need better training, more technology and greater freedom to respond to the threat posed by “criminal” groups who are responsible for an uptick in fatalities in recent years.

Those are some of the recommendations being made to the Secretary-General by Retired Lieutenant General Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz of Brazil, the lead author of a new independent report published on Monday, aimed at improving the security of peacekeepers.

The 195 deaths across UN peacekeeping missions since 2013 in places such as Mali and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, represent the largest total for any five year period in UN history.

In an interview for UN News, Mr Santos Cruz said the UN should not allow the threat from armed groups to hang “permanently” over the heads of blue helmets, and give them the ability to “neutralize” aggressors, to keep themselves and civilians under their protection, safer.

Matt Wells began by asking him why peacekeeping had become so much more dangerous.