Korean Research Center for Guardianship and Trusts (KCGAT)was established as of 1st September 2016. Before the launch of KCGAT, the members of KCGAT had, since September 2013, rigorously conducted research on the integration of persons with impairments to decision making ability into communities as a part of ‘Social Sciences Korea project‘, which has been launched as from the year of 2011 by NRF.
Those research members have provided for theoretical basis for legislation work for the improvementof human rights of the persons with impairments to decision making ability. They have contributed to the enactment of the Guarantee of the Rights of, and Support to, Persons with Developmental Disabilities Act 2014 which provides in accordance with Article 9 that the guardianship services can be provided for to adults with developmental disabilities by guardianship organizations and civil volunteers. They have also contributed to the amendment of Civil Procedure Code which can be regarded as fully respecting the original purpose of adult guardianship law reform, namely the respect of self-determination and normalization of persons under guardianship.
The most important feature of the amended Civil Procedure Act is to have regard to the use of guardianship as a last resort. Lastly, they have contributed to the reform of the Mental Health Act in 2016 in that the requirements of involuntary admission to the psychiatric hospitals and institutions should be followed in due legal process. KCGAT succeeded these results and performance of the research conducted by them, and is also financed by National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF). KCGAT’s research theme is as follows.
The Purpose of KCGAT is to propose a Korean model of the supported decision making system for persons with impairments to decision making ability. KCGAT will be focusing on the reformation of the advocacy and support services for disabled persons and elderly, some of which have been discussed in the Korean Parliament. KRCGT hopes the research results to contribute to the development of human rights of disabled persons including persons with impairments to decision making ability.
