NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF KOREA Submission to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – July 2022 ㅇ Face-to-face examination should be conducted in principle, and the result should be notified to the principal in person, and the process for appeal has to be prepared and notified in the examination result notification. ㅇ A system should be devised for the designated supporter who provides information on legal procedure and authority that involuntarily hospitalized patients may exercise and assists such procedure. 14-2 Abolition of hospitalization by legal guardian □ Current status and hospitalization ㅇ In Korea, there is a protective hospitalization system where legal guardians including family can hospitalize patients and administrative hospitalization which allows the state(heads of local governments) to hospitalize patients as types of forced hospitalization. Among them, administrative hospitalization is a minority and most are protective hospitalization requested by family.16 ㅇ With the implementation of the Act on Mental Health and Welfare Act, the rate of involuntary hospitalization has significantly decreased, but involuntary hospitalization by family still accounts for a high proportion. ㅇ According to the Mental Health and Welfare Act, families who have responsibilities to protect mental patients, virtually have the power to control personal liberty of the person with psychosocial disabilities as they have obligations and responsibilities for all matters concerning liberty and property rights including discharge, prevention of self-harm and harm to others, protection of property, prohibition of abandonment in addition to an application for a hospitalization against the will of the person concerned. In the end, the protective hospitalization system by family functions as a substituteddecision making system and violates the right to self-determination of the person concerned. ㅇ In addition, cases were found where the system requires agreement for hospitalization, which was established as an alternative to involuntary hospitalization was abused to avoid hospitalization suitability examination and 28