JAKARTA - Prime Minister Mark Rutte apologized for the " past of slavery" of the Netherlands, which he said continued to have "negative impacts" on Monday.
PM Rutte's comments are part of the Dutch Government's broader recognition of the country's colonial past, and an official response to a report entitled Latitude Chains'' by the History Dialogue Group, published in July 2021.
"Over the centuries under Dutch state authorities, human dignity has been violated in the most dire way," PM Rutte said during a speech at the country's National Archives in The Hague.
"And the Dutch government in a row after 1863 failed to see and recognize adequately that our slavery in the past continues to have a negative effect and is still the same. For that I apologize to the Dutch Government," he continued.
PM Rutte also spoke briefly in English on Monday, saying: "Today, I'm sorry."
"For centuries, the Dutch state and its representatives facilitated, stimulated, maintained and took advantage of slavery. For centuries, on behalf of the Netherlands, humans were used as commodities, exploited and harassed," said PM Rutte.
He emphasized that slavery must be condemned as a "crime against humanity."
PM Rutte admits he has had a personal "change of thought", saying he mistakenly thought that the Dutch role in slavery was "something of the past".
"It is true that no one alive today is personally blamed for slavery. But it is also true that the Netherlands, in all its manifestations throughout history, bears responsibility for the terrible suffering suffered by the slaves and their descendants," said PM Rutte.
In early 2020, the Dutch government returned the stolen ceremony crown to the Ethiopian government.
The Netherlands is considered to have benefited greatly from the slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries; one of the roles Dutch West India Co. is to transport slaves from Africa to America. The Dutch did not prohibit slavery in their territory until 1863, even though it was illegal in the Netherlands.
Dutch traders are thought to have sent more than half a million slaved Africans to America, according to a Reuters report. Many went to Brazil and the Caribbean, while large numbers of Asians were imprisoned in the Dutch East Indies, which is modern Indonesia, the report said.
However, the Dutch children were not taught much about the role the Dutch played in the slave trade, Reuters added.
Conversations about the state's attitude towards race have long revolved around one of its holiday traditions. The character "Black Pete" usually features white people with full black faces, Afro▁menolaks, red lipstick and earrings, often part of the St. Nicholas celebrations. Nicholas in the Netherlands in December.
PM Rutte in 2020 said his country's view of the "Black Pete" had undergone "big changes", but so far there has been no ban.
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