Dutch King for investigating the royal family
2022.12.06 13:04
Dutch King for investigating the royal family
Budrigannews.com – According to a statement made on Tuesday by the information service of the Dutch government (RVD), Dutch King Willem-Alexander has commissioned an independent investigation into the role that the royal family played in the country’s colonial past.
The RVD stated, without elaborating on the specifics, that the investigation, which is expected to take three years to complete and will span the period from the late 16th century to the “post-colonial” present, will be carried out by three Dutch historians and a human rights expert.
“To understand historical facts and developments and to see their impact on humans and communities as clearly and honestly as possible, profound knowledge of the past is essential,” the king stated in a statement.
The Dutch government plans to apologize for its involvement in slavery during the country’s colonial era later this month. Additionally, the government plans to spend approximately 210 million dollars on a fund to raise awareness of the colonial power’s involvement in slavery and 27 million euros to open a slavery museum.
The announcement follows a recommendation made by an advisory panel last year that the government acknowledge that the transatlantic slave trade from the 17th century to the 19th century constituted crimes against humanity.
In the beginning of this year, the Dutch central bank issued an apology for its involvement in the slave trade and stated that it would provide funding for initiatives aimed at raising public awareness of slavery and reducing the negative effects it continues to have on people.
From the 17th century until the Netherlands abolished slavery in the late 19th century, the Dutch were a major player in the global slave trade.
Surinamese advocacy groups and others are reiterating their calls for reparations for descendants of slaves ahead of the 150th anniversary of abolition next year.
According to data provided by the Dutch government, the Dutch West India Company operated ships that were believed to have sold 600,000 people into slavery for centuries. People who were enslaved were forced to work on plantations in Dutch overseas colonies in the Caribbean and South America in brutal, dehumanizing conditions.
The Dutch bank ABN Amro apologized in April for its legal predecessors’ similar involvement in the slave trade, plantation slavery, and the trade in products derived from slavery.
