WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — A coalition of Muslim rights groups and student associations voted to oppose the US Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) program because it treats members of the Muslim community like suspects, Director of the Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA), Hussam Ayloush said in a press release.
"We note the consensus of Muslim institutions and Muslim student leaders across the state in expressing concerns about the narrow scope of the federal government CVE program," Ayloush said on Tuesday. "The best approach to accomplish the goals of any countering violent extremism program is to build trust and treat the community as a partner, not as a collection of potential suspects."
“Many Muslim organizations are concerned that countering extremism programs that only focus on Muslim communities ignore the real threat of extremists in other communities while increasing negative public sentiment toward American Muslims as a whole,” CAIR said.
The CVE program announced by the US Justice Department several months ago, according to CAIR, seeks to encourage individuals in American Muslim communities to intervene with and report to law enforcement “suspect” expressions and behaviour of others in their communities.
On February 17-19, the White House hosted a three-day summit aimed to prevent violent extremism from spreading domestically and globally.
CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization according to the CAIR website.
