The Netherlands has expressed regret to its former colonies for its historical role in slavery and the consequences that have persisted into the present.
Approximately 500,000 Africans were transported across the Atlantic by the Dutch between 1596 and 1829.
Hundreds of thousands of Africans were also shipped to Dutch Guiana, primarily Suriname, to work on sugar plantations.
In the nineteenth century, the Netherlands outlawed the slave trade.
The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, expressed regret and described the country’s role in slavery as a “crime against humanity” in a televised speech on Monday.
“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 came after a Dutch advisory panel recommended in 2021 that the government acknowledge that the 17th-19th century transatlantic slave trade constituted crimes against humanity and apologize for the Dutch role.
The apology also coincides with a broader examination of the nation’s colonial heritage, including initiatives to recover art that was stolen, and its ongoing battles with racism.
However, former colony Suriname has rejected the apology, claiming that it should have come from King Willem-Alexander on July 1, 2023, the 160th anniversary of Dutch abolition of slavery.
