The UN peacekeeping chief called on Wednesday for greater political engagement and leadership from the Security Council and the world body’s Member countries to ensure UN troops – and the populations they serve – are better protected.

“We are being attacked by the armed groups who are looting, killing, raping and they have no interest in peaceful solution,” Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, told reporters in New York at a briefing on a new report on reducing casualties among UN peacekeepers.

Made public on Tuesday, the report states that with the influx of armed groups, extremists, organized crime, and other criminal elements and threats, the ‘blue helmet’ and UN flag no longer offer “natural” protection to peacekeepers.

“We are being attacked by the armed groups who are looting, killing, raping and they have no interest in peaceful solution,” Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, told reporters in New York at a briefing on a new report on reducing casualties among UN peacekeepers.

“So, it is because we have these very different dangerous environments that we have to change,” he said, calling specifically for deployment of troops that are well-trained, well-equipped and with the right mindset.

Since 1948, more than 3,500 personnel have lost their lives serving in UN peace operations with 943 due to acts of violence. Since 2013, casualties have spiked, with 195 deaths in violent attacks, more than during any other five-year period in history.