In the coming days the Dutch government is expected to apologize for its role in the slave trade during the colonial era
The Netherlands is faced with its dark colonial past. The king William-Alexander (Willem-Alexander) of the Netherlands has ordered an independent inquiry into the royal family’s role in the country’s colonial past, the Dutch government announced today.
Three Dutch historians and a human rights expert will look back as far as the late 16th century to draw their conclusions. The research is expected to last about three years.
“A deep knowledge of the past is necessary to understand historical events and developments, and to ascertain the impact they had on each community, as clearly and honestly as possible,” the King of the Netherlands said in a statement.
In the coming days the Dutch government is expected to apologize for her role in the slave trade during the colonial period. At the same time, it will allocate around 200 million euros for an awareness campaign about the role of the Netherlands in the spread of the slave trade and will finance with 27 million euros the construction of a museum dedicated to slavery during the Dutch colonial period.
Last year, an advisory committee said in a report to the government that it was time to recognize that the transatlantic slave trade from the 17th to 19th centuries amounted to a crime against humanity, in which the Netherlands played an important role.
On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery, organizations in Suriname are calling for reparations for the descendants of slaves.
The Dutch West India Company operated ships that transported approximately 600,000 slaves to colonies in the Caribbean and Latin America.
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