Untouchability is the practice of ostracising a group of people regarded as 'untouchables', resulting in the segregation and persecutions from the people regarded as "higher" caste. The term is most commonly associated with treatment of the Dalit communities in the Indian subcontinent. The term has also been used to refer to other groups, including the Burakumin of Japan, the Baekjeong of Korea, and the Ragyabpa of Tibet, as well as the Romani people and Cagot in Europe, and the Al-Akhdam in Yemen Traditionally, the groups characterized as untouchable were those whose occupations and habits of life involved ritually "polluting" activities, such as fishermen, manual scavengers, sweepers and washermen.