Spain, CERD/C/ESP/CO/18-20

17. The Committee welcomes the agreements on assisting and repatriating unaccompanied minors which the State party has signed with Romania and Senegal. However, the Committee is concerned about the use of radiological tests to evaluate bone development as a means of determining the age of unaccompanied minors on Spanish territory, as the wide margin of error could lead to some children being classed as adults, and therefore denied the protection to which minors are entitled (art. 6).

The Committee urges the State party, in order to ensure that unaccompanied minors are not classed as adults and that they enjoy the protection to which children are entitled, to consider different methods of determining the age of children, and to invest in the introduction of reliable and up-to-date tests which are not harmful to the physical integrity of minors.