Information on the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the Republic of Korea 2) Recommendation ① In order to enable persons with disabilities to maintain a decent standard of living, the government must take additional costs incurred due to the disability into account in determining beneficiaries for the National Basic Livelihood Allowance and Additional Allowance for Pensions for Persons with Disabilities. 18.2 Lack of assurance of livelihood for persons with disabilities due to the Guardian Obligatory Support System 1) Current status and problems ① According to the Research on the Current Status of Independence by Disability Type and Improvement of the Support System conducted by the Commission in 2011, cases where “the guardian of a person with disability failed to meet the necessary criteria in the deliberation for the National Basic Livelihood System” was noted as a cause which undermined the independence of persons with disabilities. ② According to the present National Basic Livelihood Act, if persons with the legal duty to care for persons with disabilities have a certain amount of property or income, persons with disabilities are excluded from the basic livelihood allowance even though they do not receive any assistance from their guardians. Despite the fact that in many cases the property or income level of the guardian is considerably low and a large number of persons with disabilities need assistance, persons with disabilities are excluded from receiving the allowance. This is transferring the duty of the state to ensure the minimum standard of living for its people to the families of persons with disabilities and is continuously criticized by the civic society. ③ The Commission announced the Mid-Long term Plan for the Promotion of Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2013-207) in October 2012, which calculated the number of people in the blind area where despite the fact that NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF KOREA 37