Jakarta –
The Prime Minister (PM) of the Netherlands Marco Rutte issued a public apology for the involvement Dutch in slavery for 250 years. He apologized because slavery is a type of crime against humanity.
As reported by AFP on Monday (12/19/2022), Mark Rutte’s apology was presented in the context of almost 150 years since the end of slavery in the Dutch overseas colonies. He has apologized for slavery in Suriname, islands such as Curacao, Aruba in the Caribbean and eastern Indonesia.
Aruba Prime Minister Evelyn Wever-Croes accepted the apology. However, other countries, such as the island of Sint Maarten, said they would not accept the Dutch apology.
“Today on behalf of the Dutch government, I apologize for the actions of the Dutch state in the past,” Rutte said in his speech, repeating the apology in English, Papiamento and Sranan Tongo, languages spoken in the Caribbean and Suriname. .
“The Dutch state in the Netherlands is responsible for the immense suffering that befell enslaved peoples and their descendants,” Rutte continued at a hearing at the National Archives in The Hague.
Rutte said he and Dutch citizens living today can only apologize and condemn the slavery their country did hundreds of years ago. He stressed that slavery is a crime against humanity.
“We, living in the here and now, can only recognize and condemn slavery in the clearest terms as a crime against humanity,” he said.
Meanwhile, Rutte said in his speech that choosing the right moment to apologize is a tricky matter.
“There is no right time for everyone, no right word for everyone, no right place for everyone,” he added.
(maa/aud)
