250-Year Slavery: Netherlands Apologises To Ex-Colonies

Netherlands has apologised to its ex-colonies over its historical involvement in slavery and the effects that have persisted into the present.

Gatekeepers News reports that the Netherlands transported about half a million Africans across the Atlantic between 1596 and 1829.

The Dutch shipped about hundreds of thousands of Africans to their settlements in Dutch Guiana, notably Suriname, where they worked primarily on sugar plantations.

The Netherlands was one of the last countries in Europe to officially abolish slavery on July 1, 1863, but the actual end came only in 1873.

In a televised speech on Monday, the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte expressed regret and described the country’s role in slavery as “a crime against humanity”.

Rutte said, “Today, I apologise. For centuries, the Dutch state and its representatives have enabled and stimulated slavery and have profited from it,” Rutte said.

“It is true that nobody alive today bears any personal guilt for slavery. However, the Dutch state bears responsibility for the immense suffering that has been done to those that were enslaved and their descendants.

“We, living in the here and now, can only recognise and condemn slavery in the clearest terms as a crime against humanity.”

The announcement followed a recommendation from a Dutch advisory panel in 2021, asking the government to acknowledge that the 17th-19th century transatlantic slave trade amounted to crimes against humanity, and to apologise for the Netherlands’ role.

The apology also comes amid a wider reconsideration of the country’s colonial past, including efforts to return looted art, and its current struggles with racism.

Nevertheless, countries like Suriname, a former colony, have rejected the apology stating that it should have come from King Willem-Alexander on July 1, 2023 — the 160th anniversary of the Dutch abolition of slavery.