Netherlands PM Rutte apologises for role of Dutch state in slavery

THE HAGUE - Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Monday apologised on behalf of the Dutch State for its historical role in slavery, and for consequences that he acknowledged continue into the present day.

“Today I apologise,” Mr Rutte said, speaking at a nationally televised speech at the Dutch National Archives.

“For centuries the Dutch state and its representatives have enabled and stimulated slavery and have profited from it,” he added.

“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.”

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

However, there had been resistance from groups who said an apology should come from King Willem-Alexander, in former colony Suriname, on July 1, 2023 – the 160th anniversary of Dutch abolition.

“It takes two to tango – apologies have to be received by somebody,” said Roy Kaikusi Groenberg of the Honor and Recovery Foundation, a Dutch Afro-Surinamese organisation.

He said that it felt wrong that activists who are descendants of slaves have struggled for years to change the national discussion but had not been sufficiently consulted.

“The way the government is handling this, it’s coming across as a neo-colonial belch,” he said.

Silveria Jacobs, Prime Minister of Sint Maarten – a Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands – said last week she would not accept an apology without a discussion.

Mr Rutte is responding to a national advisory panel set up following the

2020 killing of George Floyd in the United States.

The panel said that Dutch participation in slavery had amounted to crimes against humanity and in 2021 recommended an apology and reparations.

Mr Rutte ruled out reparations at a news conference last Friday, though he is expected to create a 200 million euro (S$288 million) educational fund.

“It’s about a process in which you talk about recovery, in the sense of together acknowledging the past and the consequences in the present, but not, let’s say, salaries that weren’t paid,” Mr Rutte said.

Historians estimate Dutch traders shipped more than half a million enslaved Africans to the Americas, mostly to Brazil and the Caribbean.

Many Dutch people take pride in the country’s naval history and prowess as a trading nation.

However, children are taught little of the role in the slave trade played by the Dutch West India Company and the Dutch East India Company, key sources of national wealth.

Despite the Dutch reputation for tolerance, racism is a significant problem.

Citizens of Antillean, Turkish and Moroccan ancestry report high rates of discrimination in their everyday lives.

Recent studies have shown they face significant disadvantages in the workplace and in the housing market. REUTERS