Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1991, published 78th ILC session (1991)

Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102) - Mauritania (Ratification: 1968)

The Committee hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain information on the points raised in its previous comments which read as follows:

Part VI of the Convention (Employment injury benefit). (a) Article 34 (Medical care). The Government states in its report that it is continuing to examine the possibility of amending section 10 of Order No. 464/MST, of 4 September 1967, in order to include domiciliary visiting among the medical care provided for the victims of employment injuries and thereby bring the national legislation into conformity with the above provision of the Convention. The Committee notes this statement and requests the Government to indicate any progress made in this respect.

(b) Article 36 (Amount of survivors' benefit). The Committee drew the Government's attention to the fact that the amount of the survivors' benefit for a standard beneficiary (widow with two children), calculated only on the basis of the basic remuneration of the deceased family breadwinner, without taking into account the family allowances provided to the family breadwinner during his employment (section 49, paragraph 2(a) and (b), of Act No. 67-039 of 1967), does not in fact amount to 40 per cent of the former earnings of the latter, as required by the Convention. Indeed, the above-mentioned family allowances, when added to the basic remuneration would contribute to attaining that percentage, but they are refused in the case of orphans who benefit from a pension or a survivors' annuity, under the terms of section 65, paragraph 4, of the above Act and section 19 of Order No. 464/MST of 1967. The Committee therefore requested the Government either to increase the rates of survivors' benefits in respect of victims of employment injuries (as, indeed, is the case for suvivors' pensions under the general pensions scheme by virtue of section 55 of Act No. 67-039 above), or to continue providing family allowances also in respect of the orphans of the above victims.

In reply to these comments, the Government once again indicates that the matter is the subject of an in-depth examination, following which practical measures will be identified to bring the national legislation into conformity with the provisions of the Convention. While noting these indications, the Committee can only once again express the hope that a solution can be found in the near future, in one or other of the above manners, to give full effect to the Convention in this respect and that the next report will contain information on the progress achieved in this connection.

Part XI (Standards to be complied with by periodical payments), Article 65, paragraph 10 (Review of long-term benefits). The Government refers once again to the review of pensions which took place in 1975 and states that it is proposed to readjust these pensions in the near future. The Committee notes this statement and hopes that the next report will indicate any new review of long-term benefits and that it will contain all the data required in the report form on this Convention under Title VI for Article 65.

Part XIV (Miscellaneous provisions), Article 76. The Committee notes the statistics supplied by the Government in its report and requests it to indicate in its next report: (a) the number of employees actually protected by the general social security scheme (and by special schemes) and their percentage in relation to the total number of employees in the country, and (b) the level of benefit provided for each of the contingencies covered by the Parts of the Convention that have been accepted (Parts V, VI, VII, IX and X) and the wage of a skilled manual male employee (determined in accordance with Article 65, paragraphs 6 and 7, of the Convention) or of an ordinary adult male labourer (determined in accordance with Article 66, paragraphs 4 and 5). Please also indicate the currently applicable ceiling that is applied to remuneration subject to contributions (section 20, paragraph 3, of Act No. 67-039).

Part V (Old-age benefit), Article 28 (in relation with Articles 65 or 66). The Committee also requests the Government to indicate how average monthly earnings are calculated in practice (as set forth in section 54, paragraph 1, of Act No. 67-039 of 1967 and section 77, paragraph 2, of Order No. 464 of 1967) in order to serve as a basis for the determination of the monthly amount of old-age benefit, particularly in cases where the beneficiary, although registered with the insurance scheme for 36 months or more, has not paid contributions for certain periods during the three or five last years preceding the date of his entitlement to a pension. The Committee would also be grateful to be provided with information concerning the effects of this method of calculation on the amount of the old-age pension provided for such a benficiary (please provide practical examples, if possible).