The Dutch government is set to formally apologize for its involvement in slave trade.
According to Al Jazeera,this was disclosed by the Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the National Archives in The Hague.
Over a period of 200 years, the Dutch slave trade enslaved an estimated half a million people and made the Netherlands the third largest colonial power in the world.
Those taken from West Africa were typically sold and enslaved on plantations in Suriname and the Antilles.
Dutch kingdom abolished slavery on July 1, 1863, making it one of Europe’s later countries to do so. The actual end came only in 1873.
In July, a commission established by the government ruled that the Netherlands needed to express regret and actively combat the fallout, such as racism.
The state was required to acknowledge the “historical injustice” of slavery because it was a crime against humanity.
