The United Kingdom is currently taking its first tentative steps toward a formal state apology for its role in the transatlantic slave trade, a path that the Netherlands began navigating five years ago. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has pledged to initiate a structured dialogue with former colonies to help shape this historic shift, while King Charles III has expressed profound personal sorrow. However, as London carefully selects its words while ruling out direct financial reparations, the Dutch experience offers a preview of the complexities ahead, including political resistance and disillusionment among descendants of enslaved people.
The Dutch process began with a strong foundation of historical acknowledgment. Merchants during the Dutch Golden Age trafficked an estimated 600,000 enslaved Africans to plantations in Suriname and Curaçao, and between 660,000 and one million others across the Indian Ocean and East Indies. This trade generated significant wealth, accounting for more than 10% of the GDP of the province of Holland by the 1770s. Even the Dutch crown profited, with Kings William III and William IV earning the equivalent of 545 million euros in modern currency from the trade between 1675 and 1770.
Despite this history, the Netherlands was among the last European colonial powers to legally abolish slavery, doing so in 1863, with full freedom achieved in 1873. Campaigners had been demanding accountability since the 1980s, and the National Institute for the Study of Dutch Slavery and its Legacy was founded in 2002. The political momentum accelerated in 2020 following the global protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd, which forced a national reckoning with Dutch history.
In July 2021, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema delivered a direct apology on behalf of the municipality, stating that the city’s wealth was indivisible from persistent racism. This was followed by apologies from other major cities and the central bank. In December 2022, then Prime Minister Mark Rutte delivered a landmark speech recognizing slavery as a crime against humanity, formally apologizing on behalf of the Dutch government. Six months later, King Willem-Alexander also asked for forgiveness, acknowledging the weight of the words in his heart.
Despite the sincerity of these gestures, the process was not without criticism. Activists and descendants argued that the apologies were hasty and paternalistic, lacking genuine community consultation. Roy Kaikusi Groenberg of the Honour and Recovery Foundation described the prime minister’s declaration as a neocolonial belch, highlighting the irony of European politicians dictating the terms of reconciliation. While the government ruled out direct reparations, it established a 200 million euro fund for education and community initiatives and committed to building a National Slavery Museum.
Linda Nooitmeer, a key figure in the movement, noted that while the apologies were the right words, they did not address the economic nature of slavery. She warned that without community ownership of the process, the old mechanisms of inequality would remain. She emphasized the need for people of African descent to have agency over what reparations look like and when they are considered sufficient. The Dutch public remained sharply divided, with polls showing that while support grew slightly after the royal apologies, nearly half the population still opposed the idea.
The political landscape further complicated the issue, as populist far-right leaders like Geert Wilders capitalized on public division. His Freedom Party won a shock victory in the 2023 elections, having long ridiculed state apologies for past wrongs. The National Slavery Museum, backed by 80 million euros in funding, is due to open in 2030. For Britain, the Dutch journey suggests that a state apology may not serve as a neat final settlement but rather as the opening of a new and contested phase of historical reckoning.
