The announcement follows on from a recommendation by an advisory panel in the Netherlands in July last year that the government should acknowledge that the 17th to 19th century slave trade amounted to crimes against humanity, and that it should apologise for the Dutch role.

​The announcement follows on from a recommendation by an advisory panel in the Netherlands in July last year that the government should acknowledge that the 17th to 19th century slave trade amounted to crimes against humanity, and that it should apologise for the Dutch role.