Slave trade apologies: Dutch prime minister apologizes for the role of the Netherlands



CNN

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte apologized on Monday for Netherlands’ “slavery in the past”, which he says continues to have “negative consequences”.

Rutte’s comments were part of a broader recognition by the Dutch government of the country’s colonial past and an official response to the Slavery History Dialogue Group’s report, Chains of the Past, published in July 2021.

“For centuries, under the rule of the Dutch state, human dignity was violated in the most terrible way,” Rutte said during a speech at the National Archives of the country in The Hague.

“And successive Dutch governments after 1863 failed to properly see and acknowledge that our past of slavery continued to have negative consequences and still does. For this, I apologize to the Dutch government,” said the Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

On Monday, Rutte also made a brief speech in English, saying, “I apologize today.”

The country made huge profits from the slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries.

“For centuries the Dutch state and its representatives have promoted, stimulated, preserved and profited from slavery. For centuries, people have been commodified, exploited and abused in the name of the Dutch state,” Rutte said.

He said that slavery should be condemned as a “crime against humanity”.

Rutte acknowledged that he experienced a personal “change of mind” and said he was wrong in thinking that the Netherlands’ role in slavery was “a thing of the past”.

“It is true that no one living today is personally to blame for slavery. But it is also true that the Dutch state in all its manifestations throughout history is responsible for the terrible suffering inflicted on enslaved people and their descendants,” he said.

At the beginning of 2020 the company Dutch government returned the stolen ceremonial crown to the Ethiopian government.

A country made a big profit from the slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries; one of the roles of the Dutch West India Company. was the transportation of slaves from Africa to America. The Dutch did not prohibit slavery in their territories until 1863, although it was illegal in the Netherlands.

It is estimated that Dutch traders shipped over half a million enslaved Africans to the Americas. Reuters reports. Many went to Brazil and the Caribbean, while a significant number of Asians were enslaved in the Dutch East Indies, which is modern-day Indonesia, the agency writes.

However, little is taught to Dutch children about the role of the Netherlands in the slave trade, Reuters added.

Talk about the country’s attitude to racing has long surrounded one of its holiday traditions. Character “Black Pete” usually sees a white person with a full black face, an afro wig, red lipstick and earrings, and is often part of the Dutch St. Nikolsky holidays in December.

Rutte in 2020 said that in the country his views on “Black Pete” had undergone “major changes”, but he would not go for his ban.