calls upon Member States to enhance efforts to counter this kind of violent extremism.” Likewise, OSCE commitments call for enhanced co-operation to prevent and counter violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism (VERLT), including recruitment and mobilization of individuals as terrorists and FTFs.188 Increasingly, states across the region are developing and pursuing a broad range of policies to prevent and counter VERLT – often also referred to as countering or preventing violent extremism (CVE or PVE) strategies. Where such policies involve identifying “early signs of radicalization”, detecting and countering attitudes, beliefs and to some extent behavior that are considered precursors to terrorism or engaging as FTFs, they raise a number of human rights issues.189 Preventing Terrorist Violence Versus Countering “Radicalization” or “Extremism” First, difficult questions arise regarding the objectives, framing and focus of policies that counter so-called “radicalization” or “extremism”. Many political and human rights movements have been considered radical and extreme in their inception and the scope for abuse in countering views and behaviour that is considered to be undesirable is clear. Overbroad and vague definitions in counter-terrorism and “anti-extremism” legislation raise serious concerns about non-violent acts being targeted by such legislation, including the activities of peaceful opposition groups, civil society and human rights defenders across the OSCE area.190 Moreover, in practice, the widespread focus on countering “radicalization” or “extremism” is often connected to a focus on Muslim belief and practice,191 despite repeated reassertions by the UN Security Council, OSCE participating States and others that 188  See: OSCE Ministerial Declaration on VERLT, para. 4, op. cit., note 152. See also: OSCE Ministerial Declaration on FTFs, op. cit., note 2. 189  For an overview of potential human rights implications of measures to prevent and counter VERLT see: Preventing Terrorism and Countering Violent Extremism and Radicalization that Lead to Terrorism, OSCE, pp. 48-60, op. cit., note 73. See also: “Background Paper: Countering the Incitement and Recruitment of Foreign Terrorist Fighters: The Human Dimension”, OSCE/ODIHR, op. cit., note 12. See also: UN Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism, UN Doc. A/HRC/31/65, op. cit., note 34. 190  See, for example, “Civil Society Recommendations to the Participants of the OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting in Vienna”, Civic Solidarity Platform, December 2017, <www.civicsolidarity.org/sites/default/files/ recomendations_vienna_2017_3.12.pdf>; F. Ní Aoláin, “The UN Security Council, Global Watch Lists, Biometrics and the threat to the rule of law”, op. cit., note 52. See also considerations in section 3.3 above. 191  The UN Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism noted that strategies to counter violent extremism, even if generic on paper, tend to target specific groups considered to be most “at risk” of turning to violent extremism in practice. In order to avoid the stigmatization of entire communities and ethnic or religious groups, he stressed that such strategies should not be based on “pre- or misconceptions about the groups that are most susceptible to radicalization or violent extremism”. See UN Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism, UN Doc. A/HRC/31/65, para. 43, op. cit., note 34. 54 Guidelines for Addressing the Threats and Challenges of “Foreign Terrorist Fighters”