The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday approved a U.S.-backed plan to more than double the size of Haiti ’s 15-month-old international security mission, long plagued by underfunding and understaffing, drawing sharp criticism of Washington from China and Russia.

Armed gangs have taken control of almost all of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, in a conflict that has forced some 1.3 million people from their homes and fueled famine-level hunger. UNICEF said last month that children make up an estimated 50% of gang members in the Caribbean country.

“This dramatic expansion of gang violence has jeopardised the very existence of the Haitian state,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz told the council.

Russia, China and Pakistan abstained from the vote on the measure put forward

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