Forced labor on the part of those responsible for freedom and human rights. Through public works the government orders the cleaning of streets, sidewalks, squares, public neighborhoods, the opening of canals, the building of footbridges, painting schools, etc. A threatening clause: Those who oppose the draft law, which provides that the assistance paid by the government is spent by the government, the people responsible for freedom and human rights - will have their economic assistance cut off. Yesterday the Tirana council approved the immediate implementation of two government orders. The first is the authorization of the Ministry of Local Government’s finance department to transfer the economic assistance payment fund to a designated bank, while the second is "On the criteria for granting economic assistance". According to this decision, right at the beginning it is required that "the head of household and the adult members of the family, beneficiaries of economic assistance, be participants in public works". The decision says that such a thing is done "with the aim of improving living conditions and infrastructure in the commune, as well as increasing the incomes of needy families". It further states that "public works" are carried out for the cleaning of streets, sidewalks, squares, public neighborhoods, the opening of canals, the building of footbridges, painting schools, etc., and that these works are carried out with materials ordered by the communes and municipalities. On the other hand, the decision is even more threatening when it stipulates that beneficiaries of economic assistance who refuse without reason to take part in these works lose the right to receive it. Declaration of the group of left-wing councillors in the Tirana council From the very first moment of becoming acquainted with this government decision, we regard it as yet another expression of a mistaken political and social logic. In conditions where poverty and unemployment are acute wounds in Albanian society, the government responds not with employment, investment and social protection policies, but with a coercive scheme that strikes at the dignity of the poorest layers. The obligation imposed on heads of household and adult members of families receiving economic assistance to participate in so-called "public works" cannot be justified as a social measure. In essence, it is an administrative means of pressure on citizens who are in economic difficulty. To make economic assistance conditional on forced participation in work means turning a minimum right to survival into an instrument of coercion. We believe that this initiative violates fundamental freedoms and human rights, runs counter to the spirit of the social state, and shifts the government’s responsibility from creating jobs to using the poor as free labor. Moreover, the list of planned works — cleanups, opening canals, painting schools, various rearrangements — clearly shows that the government intends to replace public services and local investment with unpaid or underpaid labor. The left-wing councillors on the Tirana Council call on public opinion, human rights organizations, and opposition political forces to react to this decision. Albania cannot build a democratic order by treating the unemployed as objects of discipline. Economic assistance is the state’s obligation toward citizens in need, not a reward for obedience or for imposed labor. We demand the immediate review of this decision and the drafting of genuine policies for employment, vocational training, and support for poor families.