New Delhi, Jan. 30 -- The U.N. Security Council criticized Haitian authorities Thursday for the lack of progress in achieving a political transition and called for urgent security sector reforms to tackle increasing violence by gangs and criminal groups.

The council condemned the upsurge in violence in Latin America's poorest nation in the strongest terms, pointing to human rights violations and abuses, including sexual violence against women, men and children as well as human trafficking, migrant smuggling, killings and the abduction of children by armed gangs.

The council resolution, co-sponsored by the United States and Panama, and adopted unanimously, extends the U.N.'s political mission in Haiti until Jan. 31, 2027.

Gangs have gro...