The King of the Netherlands apologizes for his country's practice of slavery during the colonial era

  

  Today, Saturday, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands officially apologized for his country's practice of slavery during the colonial era, on the 160th anniversary of the legal abolition of slavery in the Netherlands.

The King of the Netherlands said, "I stand before you today as your king and as part of your government.. Today I apologize," adding that "the slave trade and slavery are a crime against humanity. The kings and rulers of the Orange-Nassau family (the royal family) did not take any step against that."

"I ask forgiveness for inaction on a day when we commemorate slavery in the Netherlands," he added.

Many appealed to the king to apologize due to the symbolism that this issuance means.

And the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, previously made official apologies in The Hague speech at the end of last year on behalf of the government for the role of the Dutch state in slavery, indicating that it is a crime against humanity.

"Today, I apologize on behalf of the Dutch government for what the Dutch state did in the past," Rutte said in his speech.

On this date, the descendants of Dutch slavery commemorate the 160th anniversary of the end of slavery in an annual ceremony known as "Kitty Koti" (breaking the chains) in Suriname.

Once the world's third-largest colonial power, the Netherlands enslaved some 600,000 people over more than 200 years, most of them kidnapped from West Africa, sold, and forced to work on plantations in Suriname, the Antilles, South America, and the Caribbean.

Source: Agencies