Dutch King Apologizes for His Country's Role in Slavery
Dutch King Willem-Alexander apologized for the role of the Dutch state and Kingdom in slavery. He acknowledged that the Kingdom of the Netherlands had failed to stop these crimes against humanity.
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Dutch King Willem-Alexander (right) laid a wreath on National Slavery Remembrance Day at The Oosterpark, Amsterdam, on Saturday (1/7/2023). Dutch King Willem-Alexander has officially apologized for his country's involvement in slavery.
AMSTERDAM, SUNDAY - The Kingdom of the Netherlands apologized for its involvement in slavery and the slave trade during the Dutch colonial era. This historic apology was conveyed by Dutch King Willem-Alexander in a speech in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on the commemoration of the 160th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the Netherlands and its colonies in the Caribbean on Saturday (1/7/2023).
The apology from the Dutch King was delivered amid calls to revisit the colonial past of the Netherlands, including the country's involvement in the Atlantic slave trade and slavery in its former colonies in Asia. Willem-Alexander referred to the practice of slavery as "horror," while the Dutch Royal Family did not make any effort to stop it.
"Today, I stand before you as your king and a member of the government. I apologize for the failure to address the crimes against humanity. We carry with us the horrors of past slavery. The consequences of slave trade can still be felt in the form of racism in society today," said Willem-Alexander in his speech before thousands of descendants of slaves from Suriname as well as Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao in the Caribbean region."
After delivering a speech, he then laid a wreath at the national slavery monument in Oosterpark, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Willem-Alexander's historic apology was greeted with cheers from the thousands of people who attended the event.
The speech of the King of the Netherlands following the apology of the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in December 2022, regarding the role of the Netherlands in slavery and the slave trade.
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Slavery was officially abolished in 1863 in the Dutch colonies, including Suriname and the Dutch Caribbean Islands such as Curaçao and Aruba. However, many people were still enslaved and forced to work on plantations for over a decade to suppress the Dutch financial losses. This means that for most enslaved individuals, slavery did not end until 1873.
The role of the Netherlands in global slave trade has long been a neglected issue. However, in recent years, the Dutch government has been actively acknowledging it.
A woman poured an offering at the Day of Awareness commemoration, KetiKoti Festival, a celebration of the abolition of slavery, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on Saturday (1/7/2023).
Willem-Alexander acknowledged that not all people in the Netherlands support this apology request. Racism in Dutch society remains a problem. Nevertheless, he called for unity.
"There is no blueprint for the process of healing, reconciliation, and recovery. We are all facing an issue that has not yet been mapped. Let us support each other," said Willem-Alexander, who ascended to the throne in 2013."
Willem-Alexander acknowledges that not all people in the Netherlands support this apology. Racism in Dutch society is still a problem.
The statement made by Willem-Alexander on Saturday was not the first personal apology made by the King of the Netherlands for his country's mistakes in history. During his visit to Indonesia in 2020, he apologized for the "excessive violence" used by the Dutch army from 1945 to 1949 during the Indonesian independence war.
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President Joko Widodo along with King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands reviewed troops at the Bogor Palace, West Java, on March 10th, 2020. This is King Willem's first visit to Indonesia since he inherited the throne from Queen Beatrix in 2013.
PM Rutte has apologized and acknowledged that the Netherlands bears responsibility for the Atlantic slave trade and has benefited from it. He stated that the government will not pay compensation to the descendants who were enslaved, as recommended by an advisory panel in 2021. Instead, the royal government will provide a fund of 217 million US dollars or IDR 3.2 trillion for initiatives addressing the legacy of slavery in the Netherlands and its former colonies and to improve education on the topic.
However, it is not enough for some people in the Netherlands, especially for the Black Manifesto and The Black Archives groups who organized a protest before the king's speech. "For hundreds of years, people have been treated as commodities, exploited, and abused in the name of the Netherlands," said Rutte.
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"Apologies alone are not enough. Apologies must be accompanied by forms of improvement, justice, or reparations," said Mitchell Esajas, director of The Black Archives organization."
On the commemoration of the abolition of slavery, some people protested by wearing colorful traditional clothing. In the past, enslaved people were forbidden to wear shoes and colorful clothing.
"We remember our ancestors by wearing whatever we want. We are free now. We show to the whole world that we are free," said Regina Benescia-van Windt (72), one of the protesters.
In a photo archive dated December 10, 2020 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, the national monument of the Slavery Past, made by Erwin de Vries, can be seen.
However, according to the Chair of the National Institute for the Study of Dutch Slavery, Linda Nooitmeer, Willem-Alexander's apology was extraordinary. Although apologies are generally symbolic, it is still significant to hear those words from a head of state and is hoped to bring more awareness to Dutch colonial history.
Rutte's apology late last year sparked more discussion in the Dutch public. "This apology for the Dutch role in the slave trade is 160 years late," Nooitmeer told The New York Times, Saturday.
Big profit
A study commissioned by the royal government last month found that the House of Orange, a government-owned institution in the Netherlands, made a profit or income equivalent to modern times of USD 595 million or around IDR 9 trillion from Dutch colonies during 1675-1770. Most of the income was given as a gift from the profit of the Dutch East India Company's spice trade.
The Dutch Government has formed an independent investigation into the royal family's role in colonial history, and the results will be released possibly in 2026. Slavery was abolished in Suriname and Dutch colonies in the Caribbean on July 1, 1863, but most enslaved workers were forced to continue working on plantations for another 10 years.
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President Joko Widodo welcomed the visit of Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands at the Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java, on October 7, 2019. Prime Minister Rutte's visit to Indonesia is part of his tour to Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
The Dutch colonial history, which was often brutal, returned to critical scrutiny after the murder of George Floyd, a black citizen in Minneapolis, United States of America, on May 25 2020. This incident gave birth to the Black Lives Matter movement. The Dutch first became involved in the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the late 1500s and became major slave traders in the mid-1600s.
According to Dutch colonial historian and assistant professor at Leiden University, Karwan Fatah-Black, the Dutch West India Company later became the largest trans-Atlantic slave trader.
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The Deutsche Welle website, on June 30, 2023, stated that at the peak of its colonial era, the Netherlands led a vast global trading network as one of the world's main imperial powers.
For centuries, the Dutch were responsible for about 5 percent of the total trans-Atlantic slave trade, buying and shipping nearly 600,000 slaves from Africa to the Caribbean as well as other European colonies across the Americas. Enslaved Africans were also forcibly transferred to Dutch colonies in the Indian Ocean, such as Indonesia, and enslaved Balinese or Javanese to modern South Africa.
Overall, 15 percent of those who were brought from Africa to America during the transatlantic trade did not survive the voyage due to the poor condition of the ships that carried them. Not to mention the many slaves who died even before they left Africa.
Last state
The survivors and their descendants faced a brutal plantation life of forced labor and harsh punishments for perceived disobedience. The Netherlands was one of the last European countries to end slavery in colonial territories.
Before the Netherlands apologized, in 2018 Denmark had already apologized to Ghana which was colonized from the mid-17th century to the mid-19th century. King Philippe of Belgium has expressed "deepest regret" for the human rights violations they committed in Congo.
In 1992, Pope John Paul II apologized for the church's role in slavery. In April 2023, England's King Charles III for the first time signaled support for research into the British monarchy's links to slavery after documents showed a link between their ancestry and shares in slave trading companies. Charles and Prince William have expressed their sorrow over slavery, but have not acknowledged the royal connection to the slave trade.
"The darkest days in our past and the appalling cruelty of slavery forever stain our history," said Charles when visiting Barbados two years ago."
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, gave a speech at the presidential inauguration ceremony in Heroes Square, Bridgetown, Barbados on November 30th, 2021, witnessed by, among others, President Barbados Dame Sandra Mason (sitting in a chair).
According to researcher Mia McMorris from the Centre for Reparations Research at the University of West Indies in Barbados, an apology must have three dimensions, namely acknowledgement of wrongdoing, addressing present-day legacies such as campaigning against racial inequality and continuing colonial narratives, and making amends through compensation. There are only a few real-world examples of reparations.
Last year, Germany officially acknowledged committing genocide in the early 20th century in Namibia and promised around 1 billion euros in development assistance in reparations. There were also negotiations in 1952 between post-Nazi Germany, Israel, and the Conference of Claims or the umbrella body of the Jewish diaspora after the Holocaust.
"The reparations offered and negotiated between West Germany and Israel were not based on calculating how much profit was gained or the total losses incurred, but rather on what was needed in Israel at that time," said McMorris. (REUTERS/AFP/AP)
