In September, it was reported that the government of the Netherlands was preparing to issue an official apology for the European nation’s key role in slave trade history. In addition, the Dutch government was said to launch a 200-million-euro fund for projects aimed at raising the public’s awareness of the legacy of slavery
On Monday, the Netherlands is expected to issue an official apology for the Dutch nation’s key role in slave trade in the past, becoming the first European country to apologize formally for its role in the dark history of trading enslaved people. The apology is expected to be made by the country’s Prime Minister Mark Rutte during a speech in The Hague.
Apart from that, the PM is reportedly set to launch a 200-million-euro fund (about $213 million) aimed at education people about the legacy of slavery.
Last week, Rutte said that the fund was not intended for reparation, adding that the move, which he described as an “important moment”, would not be the “end point” of the Dutch government’s efforts to settle the country’s colonial past.
The Dutch government stressed that the fund is meant to “strengthen knowledge about the meaning of discrimination in everyday life and take legal measures to combat racism and xenophobia.
Critics, according to local media reports, view the Dutch government’s unprecedented move as coming too late, arguing that apologizing for salve trade would not address institutional racism in the country.
Jesse Klaver, the leader of the Green Left Party, argued that PM Rutte’s apology would have been more effective if the descendants of slavery trade victims would be involved in the conversation.
“I am positive about the fact that they are going to apologize, but not about the way in which they are doing this,” Klaver stated, as cited by media. “An apology is a process you start together, you discuss what is needed.”
The Netherlands was among the biggest slave traders in the world in the period between the 16th and the 19th centuries, having colonies in the Americas, Africa, and Asia.
As the country reckons with its colonial past, in July 2021, the mayor of the Netherlands’ capital Amsterdam officially apologized for “the active involvement of the Amsterdam city council in the commercial system of colonial slavery and the worldwide trade in enslaved people”.
Earlier this year, the Dutch Central Bank and ABN AMRO Bank NV, the third-largest Dutch bank, also issued formal apologies for their historical role in slave trade.
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