CARICOM Reparations Commission to engage Netherlands following apology for African enslavement

Dec 21, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – The CARICOM Reparations Commission (CRC) on Tuesday said while it welcomes the apology issued by the Kingdom of the Netherlands for African enslavement, there is need for the apology to be translated into action.

On Monday, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte apologised on behalf of the Netherlands for the historical role it played in the slave trade saying that slavery must be recognised in “the clearest terms” as a crime against humanity.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte reacts to the exit polls in the Netherlands’ General E lection in The Hague, Netherlands, March 17, 2021. REUTERS/Piroschka Van De Wouw/Pool/File Photo

In a speech at the national archives in The Hague, the Dutch Prime Minister acknowledged that the past “cannot be erased, only faced up to” while stating that the Dutch state had “enabled, encouraged and profited from slavery”.

People were “commodified, exploited and traded in the name of the Dutch state”, he said, adding: “It is true nobody alive today bears any personal guilt for slavery … But the Dutch state bears responsibility for the immense suffering of those who were enslaved, and their descendants. Today, on behalf of the Dutch Government, I apologise for the past actions of the Dutch state.”

Rutte’s words were due to be echoed by Dutch Ministers who had travelled to seven former colonies in South America and the Caribbean that suffered untold misery during the 250 years of the slave trade that helped fund the Netherlands’ economic and cultural “golden age”, the Guardian reported.

In its report headlined, ‘Dutch PM apologises for Netherlands’ role in slave trade’, the Guardian said the move by the PM follows the conclusion a national advisory panel set up after the 2020 killing of George Floyd in the US, which said Dutch participation in slavery had been a crime against humanity deserving of a formal apology and financial reparations. The Government has ruled out reparations, but will set up a €200m educational fund.

“Its formal apology, however, has caused considerable controversy, with descendants’ groups and some of the countries affected criticising it as rushed and arguing that the lack of consultation from the Netherlands showed colonial attitudes still persisted.

Campaigners have said an apology should instead come from the Dutch king, Willem-Alexander, and be made in the former colony of Suriname, on 1 July next year, the 150th anniversary of the end of slavery there. Rutte said choosing the right moment was a “complicated matter” and there was “not one right time for everyone”,” the Guardian report said.

Slavery was formally abolished in all Dutch overseas territories on 1 July 1863, making the Netherlands one of the last countries to outlaw the practice, but it took a further decade to end in Suriname because of a mandatory 10-year transition period.

However, on Tuesday, CRC said it “welcomes this statement which it views as long overdue to the victims of the trans-Atlantic trade in enslaved Africans, chattel slavery in the Caribbean and their descendants.”

“However, the Prime Minister did not commit nor signal his Government’s intention to enter into reparations negotiations with CARICOM, Africa and the Indigenous Caribbean communities, who suffered genocide and enslavement at the hands of the Dutch state and its agents for over 300 years. To this end, the CRC is keen to engage the Netherlands Government on next steps towards a mutually satisfactory outcome,” CRC said.

The CRC said that since 2013, it has been actively pursuing reparations for Native Genocide and African Enslavement, from the former colonizing nations of Europe, namely the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

In this regard, the CRC will be hosting a virtual media engagement today to address the Netherlands’ apology in collaboration with the Centre for Reparations Research at The University of the West Indies (The UWI).

Speakers will include Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, Chairman, CARICOM Reparations Commission and Vice-Chancellor, The University of the West Indies, Mr. Armand Zunder, Chairman, National Reparations Committee of Suriname, Mr. Eric Phillips, Chairman, Guyana Reparations Committee, Professor Verene Shepherd, Director, Centre for Reparations Research at The University of the Indies and Dr. Hilary Brown, Programme Manager, Culture and Community Development, CARICOM Secretariat (Moderator).