Minorities and discrimination based on caste and analogous systems of inherited status 2016, para. 39
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In Mauritania, the two major cultural and ethnolinguistic groups, the Arab-Berber (commonly referred to as Moors), which includes the Beidane and the Haratines (also known as black moors) and some of the Afro-Mauritanian communities (including the Peuhl, Soninke, Wolof and Bambara), present divisions along ethnic and caste lines. The Moors are further divided into tribes and castes by profession, including blacksmiths, religious leaders and warriors. Relations among the different castes are very hierarchical and result in the exclusion and marginalization of certain castes, such as blacksmiths. The Haratine constitute the largest ethnic group (40 to 60 per cent of the population) but remain economically and politically marginalized. Regarded as the "slave caste", most of the present-day victims of slavery and slavery-like practices are Haratine.