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For a number of years, the Committee has been requesting the Government to indicate the manner in which the payment of invalidity, old-age and survivors’ benefits and employment injury pensions is guaranteed in practice in the case of residence abroad, both to Mauritanians and to the nationals of countries which have accepted the obligations of the Convention for one or more branches of social security. In its report in 2001, the Government indicated that there are two methods for the payment of benefits in the case of residence abroad: by bank transfer or physical presence, but that any beneficiary resident abroad who makes her or his presence known, without distinction, will regain her or his entitlements in one manner or another, as demonstrated by detailed statistics on the total amount of benefits transferred abroad and the number and nationality of the beneficiaries. In its report in 2003, the Government indicated that, if a beneficiary is resident abroad, it is sufficient to provide her or his bank account number onto which the benefit will be paid and a certificate of existence. It is in this context that nearly all the national and foreign workers who left the country following the events of 1989 have received the benefits due under the sole condition that they appear in person at least once; thereafter, they can delegate a person provided with a procuration in due form and a certificate of existence. The Government also indicated that it does not have reliable statistics on the amount of the benefits transferred to beneficiaries residing outside the country and requested the ILO’s assistance in the field of labour statistics.

The Committee takes due note of this information and requests the Government to provide precise replies in its next report to the following questions. Does physical presence in Mauritania at least once constitute a prior condition for entitlement to benefits and the organization of the transfer of benefits by bank onto the account of the beneficiary abroad? What is the advantage for a beneficiary residing abroad to delegate a person provided with a procuration if it is sufficient to indicate the number of the bank account onto which the benefit will be paid? Can a beneficiary residing in a country which does not have a bilateral social security agreement with Mauritania submit an application for a benefit, accompanied by a certificate of existence and the number of her or his bank account, by post, through consular channels or through a social security administration in her or his country of residence, without having to be physically present in Mauritania to do so, for example in the case of a survivor who has never been resident on the territory of Mauritania? With regard to the statistics of the amount of benefits transferred abroad and the number and nationality of beneficiaries, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide with its next report an update of the same data that the Government provided with its report in 2001.