A/CONF.189/PC.1/7 page 29 by organized groups. The seriousness of these violations led the authorities to take measures, including the establishment, on 15 July 1998, of the National Committee for the Prevention of Violence against Women, and of an independent fact-finding team (E/CN.4/1999/15, paras. 113-126); (d) One might also justifiably cite some of the decisions of the Human Rights Committee under the Optional Protocol, in which discrimination on the grounds of sex, in contravention of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, can be described as aggravated, although the author of the communication did not raise the question.118 2. Discrimination involving persons belonging to different ethnic and religious minorities or groups 111. The second category of aggravated discrimination concerns relations between ethnic and religious minorities or groups in a State where there is not, strictly speaking, a majority. In numerical terms, the size of these minorities may vary greatly: a minority may sociologically speaking, be in a relatively dominant position, or, in a country where there are only scattered minorities it may be less important. Here again, there may be many sub-classifications (a) Discrimination between ethnic and religious minorities and groups 112. The plurality of ethnic and religious groups in some societies, combined with certain economic, political or social conditions, can make relations between the different communities difficult, particularly as, in some cases (Africa, for example), ethnic and religious groups are scattered across a number of States and exacerbate tensions between those States. (a) In Kenya, in October 1993, inter-ethnic conflicts between the Masai (1.8 per cent of the population) and the Kikuyu (20.8 per cent) reportedly resulted in massacres and the destruction of Catholic and Evangelical churches (E/CN.4/1995/91, para. 71); (b) In Ghana, ethnic and religious conflicts allegedly occurred in the north of the country in February 1994, causing the death of at least 1,000 people; the clashes involved members of the Dagomba and Nunumba ethnic groups, on one hand, and the Konkomba on the other. The Catholic church was reported to have been attacked, with Islamized Dagombas suspecting the Catholics of helping the Konkombas (ibid., paras. 57-58);119 (c) In Benin, the activities of a Christian group were reportedly suspended following the destruction of a voodoo temple (ibid., para. 44); (d) In Malaysia, three minorities dominate: Malays (47 per cent), Chinese (33 per cent) and Indians (9 per cent); but in some States, although Muslims are in a very small minority (7 per cent in Kelantan State), discrimination by the authorities affects the Christian minorities in particular (ban on the sale of the Bible in Malay; policy of introducing laws reflecting the “Hudud” to punish certain offences committed by Christians) (ibid., para. 74); (e) Ethnic and religious conflicts can sometimes take a tragic turn. In Rwanda, both clergy and lay people have been massacred even in places of worship (ibid., para. 92);