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With reference to its observation, the Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which reads as follows:

Article 6 of the Convention.  In its previous comments, the Committee drew the Government’s attention to the need to amend section 1 of Act No. 65-57 of 3 June 1965 on family benefits so as to provide express guarantees, both for nationals of the Central African Republic and for those of any other Member which has accepted the obligations of the Convention for branch (i) concerning family benefits, for payment of family benefits for children residing on the territory of such other Member, under conditions and within limits to be agreed upon by the Members concerned. (To date the countries which have accepted the obligations for branch (i) are: Bolivia, Cape Verde, France, Guinea, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Mauritania, Norway, Netherlands, Tunisia, Uruguay and Viet Nam.) In a previous report, the Government indicated that the amendments necessary to bring the legislation into line with the provisions of the Convention should be adopted as soon as possible. Given that the Government’s last report does not contain any information in this regard, the Committee again expresses the hope that these amendments will be adopted in the very near future so as to bring  the national legislation into line with Article 6 on this point.

Articles 7 and 8.  According to the information provided by the Government in its last report, the Committee notes that no multilateral or bilateral social security agreements have been concluded by the Central African Republic with any foreign countries. However, draft social security agreements are being discussed at expert level with Congo, France and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate in its next report any progress made with a view to guaranteeing, through the conclusion of bilateral or multilateral social security agreements with other States concerned which have ratified Convention No. 118, the preservation of rights, in accordance with the provisions of Article 7 of the Convention.