The king of the Netherlands apologized to the descendants of slaves for the colonial past

Dutch King Willem-Alexander apologizes for country’s role in slave trade

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands issued a formal apology for his country’s involvement in the slave trade. The monarch did this during the event. dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the emancipation of slaves in the former colonies. The celebrations were attended by thousands of descendants of enslaved people in the former South American colony of the Netherlands Suriname, as well as in the Caribbean islands of Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire.

The king recalled that the slave trade and slavery were recognized as crimes against humanity. Willem-Alexander added that the representatives of the Orange family, to which he himself belongs, did nothing to prevent this. “Now it’s time to apologize for inaction,” the monarch stressed.

The abolition of slavery in the Dutch colonies is celebrated annually in Amsterdam. The holiday is called “Keti Koli”, or “Breaking the Chains” – translated from the Sranantongo language used in Suriname. The current commemorative events were the first since the leaders of the Netherlands apologized for the colonial past. Before the king, in December, Prime Minister Mark Rutte did it.

Since the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, the Netherlands has become a frequent part of the debate about the colonial past. In June, a report was published commissioned by the country’s Interior Ministry. According to him, the Netherlands received from the colonies in the period from 1675 to 1770 an amount equivalent to half a billion euros. A significant part of it was brought by the slave trade.