CRC/C/80/D/4/2016 cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, the State should not return a child “to a country where there are substantial grounds for believing that there is a real risk of irreparable harm to the child”.42 The Committee therefore considers that, in accordance with article 37 of the Convention and the principle of non-refoulement, the State has an obligation to carry out a prior assessment of the risk, if any, of irreparable harm to the child and serious violations of his or her rights in the country to which he or she will be transferred or returned, taking into account the best interests of the child, including, for example, “the particularly serious consequences for children of the insufficient provision of food or health services”. 43 In particular, the Committee recalls that, in the context of best interest assessments and within best interest determination procedures, children should be guaranteed the right to: (a) access the territory, regardless of the documentation they have or lack, and be referred to the authorities in charge of evaluating their needs in terms of protection of their rights, ensuring their procedural safeguards.44 14.5 In the present case, the Committee notes that on 2 December 2014: (a) the author arrived in Spain as an unaccompanied child deprived of his family environment; 45 (b) the author was left climbed up on one of the Melilla border fences for several hours, without receiving any form of assistance from the Spanish authorities; (c) as soon as he climbed down from the fence, he was arrested, handcuffed and returned directly to Morocco by the Spanish Civil Guard; and (d) in the period between his coming down the fence and being returned to Morocco, the author did not receive any legal assistance, was not offered the assistance of an interpreter to enable him to communicate properly, was not subjected to an initial assessment process to determine whether he was an unaccompanied child, was not given the benefit of the doubt and treated as a child, did not undergo an identity check or interview and was not asked about his specific personal circumstances and/or his particular vulnerabilities at that time. 14.6 The Committee also notes the State party’s allegation that the principle of nonrefoulement does not apply in the present case because it only applies when the person comes from a territory where there is a risk of persecution. However, the Committee reiterates that the State party has an obligation not to return a child “to a country where there are substantial grounds for believing that there is a real risk of irreparable harm to the child”.46 The Committee also notes that, before returning the author to Morocco, the State party did not ascertain his identity, did not ask about his personal circumstances and did not conduct a prior assessment of the risk, if any, of persecution and/or irreparable harm in the country to which he was to be returned. The Committee considers that, given the violence faced by migrants in the Moroccan border area47 and the ill-treatment to which the author was subjected, the failure to assess the risk of irreparable harm to the author prior to his deportation or to take into account his best interests constitutes a violation of articles 3 and 37 of the Convention. 14.7 The Committee considers that, in the light of the circumstances of the case, the fact that the author, as an unaccompanied child, did not undergo an identity check and assessment of his situation prior to his deportation and was not given an opportunity to challenge his potential deportation violates his rights under articles 3 and 20 of the Convention. 42 43 44 45 46 47 12 Ibid., para. 27, and joint general comment No. 3 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and No. 22 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, para. 46. General comment No. 6, para. 27. Joint general comment No. 4 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and No. 23 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, para. 17. General comment No. 6, para. 7. Ibid., para. 27. The Committee’s concluding observations on the combined third and fourth periodic reports of Morocco (CRC/C/MAR/CO/3-4) and the concluding observations of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families on the initial report of Morocco (CMW/C/MAR/CO/1). GE.19-07971