NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF KOREA Submission to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – July 2022 Article 11 Situations of Risk and Humanitarian Emergencies 11 Disaster risk reduction plans, strategies and guarantee of accessibility □ Current status and problems ㅇ The government mentioned in the national report that it established comprehensive safety measures for persons with disabilities in 2017 and defined persons with disabilities as a safety vulnerable class under related laws in 2018. ㅇ However, the ‘Standard Manual on Crisis Management’, ‘Working-level Manual on Crisis Response’ and ‘Manual on On-site Action’ based on the Framework Act on the Management of Disasters and Safety and the Special Act on Management of Disasters in Super High-rise Buildings and Complex Buildings with Underground Connections do not present matters to be considered concerning disabilities or detailed responsive measures in crisis. ㅇ In fact, in the event of the Pohang earthquake in November 2017 and the Goseng forest fire in Gangwon Province in April 2019 which were declared a national disaster, measures to help evacuation of persons with disabilities were not provided, and even sign language interpretation was not provided in the disaster broadcasting of the three public broadcasting companies, and persons with hearing disabilities could not even understand a situation. ㅇ The same is true of the ‘Infections Disease Control and Prevention Act’. When persons with disabilities were infected during the MERS outbreak in 2015, the activity support service, essential for survival, was suspended, and it became difficult to receive hospital treatment such as dialysis. Sign language or text interpretation was not properly provided for counseling calls regarding COVID-19 in 2020 and problems concerning disabilities continue to occur throughout the response to infectious diseases including selective clinics, mobility support for the disabled, daily life support during self-isolation, convenience facilities for the disabled in a residential treatment center and support system for group residential facility for the disabled.10 20