Netherlands PM Rutte Apologizes for Role of Dutch State in Slavery 

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte reacts while apologizing as he responds to recommendations from a panel of experts to accept the role of the Netherlands in the history of slavery and its current consequences in The Hague, Netherlands December 19, 2022. (Reuters)
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte reacts while apologizing as he responds to recommendations from a panel of experts to accept the role of the Netherlands in the history of slavery and its current consequences in The Hague, Netherlands December 19, 2022. (Reuters)
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Netherlands PM Rutte Apologizes for Role of Dutch State in Slavery 

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte reacts while apologizing as he responds to recommendations from a panel of experts to accept the role of the Netherlands in the history of slavery and its current consequences in The Hague, Netherlands December 19, 2022. (Reuters)
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte reacts while apologizing as he responds to recommendations from a panel of experts to accept the role of the Netherlands in the history of slavery and its current consequences in The Hague, Netherlands December 19, 2022. (Reuters)

Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Monday apologized 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. 

The prospect of an apology on a December afternoon in The Hague had been met with resistance from groups who say it should have come from King Willem-Alexander, in former colony Suriname, on July 1, 2023 -- the 160th anniversary of Dutch abolition. 

"It takes two to tango - apologies have to be received," said Roy Kaikusi Groenberg of the Honor and Recovery Foundation, a Dutch Afro-Surinamese organization. 

He said it felt wrong that activists who are descendants of slaves had struggled for years to change the national discussion but had not been sufficiently consulted. 

"The way the government is handling this, it's coming across as a neo-colonial belch," he said. 

Rutte acknowledged that the runup to the announcement had been handled clumsily and said the Dutch government was sending representatives to Suriname, as well as Caribbean islands that remain part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands with varying degrees of autonomy: Curacao, Sint Maarten, Aruba, Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius. 

Turning point 

The Prime Minister of Aruba, Evelyn Wever-Croes, said on Monday the apology was welcome and a "turning point in history within the Kingdom". 

Rutte was responding to a national advisory panel set up following the 2020 killing of George Floyd in the United States. 

The panel said that Dutch participation in slavery had amounted to crimes against humanity and in 2021 recommended an apology and reparations. Rutte on Monday said his government embraced those conclusions, including that slavery had been a crime against humanity. 

However, he ruled out reparations at a news conference last week, though the Dutch government is setting up a 200-million-euro educational fund. 

"What was completely missing from this speech is responsibility and accountability," said Armand Zunder, chairman of Suriname's National Reparations Commission, though he said it had been a "step forward". 

"If you recognize that crimes against humanity were committed then the next step is you say I'm responsible for it, we're liable for it .... Indeed I'm talking about reparations." 

Dutch press agency ANP reported that in Curacao a Dutch government delegate said in a speech that Tula, a historical figure who led a slave revolt in 1795 and was executed, would have his reputation restored. The report said the speech was greeted with long and loud applause. 

Historians estimate Dutch traders shipped more than half a million enslaved Africans to the Americas, mostly to Brazil and the Caribbean. As many or more Asians were enslaved in the East Indies, modern Indonesia. 

Many Dutch people take pride in the country's naval history and prowess as a trading nation. However, children are taught little of the role in the slave trade played by the Dutch West India Company and the Dutch East India Company, key sources of national wealth. 

Despite the Dutch reputation for tolerance, racism is a significant problem. 

Citizens of Antillean, Turkish and Moroccan ancestry report high rates of discrimination in their everyday lives and recent studies have shown they face significant disadvantages in the workplace and in the housing market. 



Blast at Los Angeles Sheriff's Facility Leaves 3 Dead

A Los Angeles County sheriff's officer stands watch as a police vehicle passes by, while officers block the road to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Biscailuz Center Academy Training facility,in East Los Angeles, California, US July 18, 2025. REUTERS/ Mike Blake
A Los Angeles County sheriff's officer stands watch as a police vehicle passes by, while officers block the road to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Biscailuz Center Academy Training facility,in East Los Angeles, California, US July 18, 2025. REUTERS/ Mike Blake
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Blast at Los Angeles Sheriff's Facility Leaves 3 Dead

A Los Angeles County sheriff's officer stands watch as a police vehicle passes by, while officers block the road to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Biscailuz Center Academy Training facility,in East Los Angeles, California, US July 18, 2025. REUTERS/ Mike Blake
A Los Angeles County sheriff's officer stands watch as a police vehicle passes by, while officers block the road to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Biscailuz Center Academy Training facility,in East Los Angeles, California, US July 18, 2025. REUTERS/ Mike Blake

An explosion at a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department training facility has killed three deputies, local media reported on Friday, though officials have yet to confirm any deaths.

A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department said an explosion occurred at the Biscailuz Center Academy Training in East Los Angeles. The spokesperson said the cause was under investigation and that they were not yet ready to confirm any deaths or injuries, Reuters reported.

The Los Angeles Times newspaper, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, reported that three deputies were killed in the blast, which took place when a bomb squad moved some explosives.

Hilda Solis, who serves on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, said in a written statement that "my heart goes out to the families, friends, and colleagues of the three individuals who lost their lives in what appears to have been a devastating explosion."

US Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on social media that she had spoken with Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna along with US Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli "about what appears to be a horrific incident that killed at least three at a law enforcement training facility in Los Angeles."

Bondi said that federal agents were at the scene and working to learn more.