CCPR/C/121/D/2770/2016 for reuniting families, which also severely impact their psychosocial well-being. 47 The Committee further notes that available background material also indicates that unaccompanied refugee and migrant children continue to be held in detention centres in Greece,48 sometimes with adults.49 8.10 The Committee further notes that the State party does not contest that after leaving the hostel where he had stayed following his arrival in Athens, the author lived on the streets for at least two months and that he did not receive any assistance from the Greek authorities, even though he had contacted them requesting support. 8.11 The Committee recalls that States parties should give sufficient weight to the real and personal risk a person might face if deported.50 In particular, the evaluation of whether the removed individuals are likely to be exposed to conditions constituting cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in violation of article 7 of the Covenant must be based not only on an assessment of the general conditions in the receiving country, but also on the individual circumstances of the persons in question. These circumstances include vulnerabilityincreasing factors relating to such persons, such as their age, which may transform a general situation which is tolerable for most removed individuals to one that is intolerable for some individuals.51 The Committee considers that it was incumbent upon the State party to undertake an individualized assessment of the risk that the author would face in Greece in view of its obligation to afford children special measures of protection pursuant to article 24 of the Covenant. Such special measures should have included, in the circumstances of the case, the taking of reasonable measures to ascertain whether the author is a minor. In this regard, the Committee notes that the decision of the State party to not review the author’s age was based mainly on the decision to rely on the information initially provided by him, notwithstanding the author’s explanation as to the reasons why he had lied when he filed his asylum request and despite the possible link between his status as a minor and his poor exercise of discretion in lying about his age. In particular, the Committee notes that following the author’s motion to change his date of birth, the State party did not take any measures to establish his age, such as a medical or psychological assessment or interviews with the staff of the asylum centre who provided their written testimony to support the author’s claim as to his age. Moreover, State party’s authorities did not undertake any act to verify the documents provided by the author to support his claim. 8.12 The Committee considers that in deciding the author’s asylum request, the authorities of the State party relied on the inconsistencies of the family book and the author’s initial statements that he was an adult. However, in the particular circumstances of the case under review, such inconsistences did not exempt the State party from taking other reasonable measures to remove doubts concerning the author’s age and his right to obtain the special measures of protection that would be available for a minor, including (a) taking all reasonable measures available to assess his age before taking a decision on the possibility of removing him to Greece; and (b) taking into account available background information according to which the conditions of reception of migrant minors in Greece may result in circumstances incompatible with article 7 of the Covenant. Consequently, the Committee considers that, in these particular circumstances, the removal of the author to Greece would amount to a violation of articles 7 and 24 of the Covenant, read alone and in conjunction with each other. 9. The Committee, acting under article 5 (4) of the Optional Protocol, is of the view that the deportation of the author to Greece without taking any measures to ensure a reasonable assertion of the author’s age would violate his rights under articles 7 and 24, read alone and in conjunction with each other. 47 48 49 50 51 UNHCR Recommendations for Greece in 2017. Available from www.unhcr.org/58d8e8e64.pdf. Becatoros, “Council of Europe: detention of lone minors ‘unacceptable’”. UNHCR Recommendations for Greece in 2017. See, for example, communications No. 1763/2008, Pillai et al. v. Canada, Views adopted on 25 March 2011, paras. 11.2 and 11.4; and No. 2409/2014, Ali and Ali Mohamad v. Denmark, Views adopted on 29 March 2016, para. 7.8. See communication No. 2681/2015, Y.A.A. and F.H.M. v. Denmark, Views adopted on 10 March 2017, para. 7.7. 13