Netherlands PM Rutte formally apologizes for role of Dutch state in slavery

Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte apologized on Monday on behalf of the Dutch State for its historical role in slavery, and for consequences that he acknowledged continue into the present day.

"Today, I apologize," Rutte said in a nationally televised speech at the Dutch National Archives.

"For centuries, the Dutch state and its representatives have enabled and stimulated slavery and have profited from it," he added. "It is true that nobody alive today bears any personal guilt for slavery...(however) the Dutch state bears responsibility for the immense suffering that has been done to those that were enslaved and their descendants."

The apology comes amid a wider reconsideration of the country's colonial past, including efforts to return looted art, and its current struggles with racism.

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