Cabinet does not accept all demands for slavery apologies

The Cabinet will not adopt all the demands made by a group of advocacy organizations regarding the way in which the Cabinet will soon reflect on the history of slavery, according to a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior.

In a letter quoted by the Dutch tv program Nieuwsuur on Saturday, the organizations demand a recovery fund for the descendants of the victims of slavery.

Furthermore, they want the blackface holiday character Zwarte Piet to disappear completely, and the organizations have called for the use of the word “neger” to be criminally punishable. That word is most closely translated as “negro,” and can be used as a slur in Dutch.

The group of advocacy organizations also want the debts of the Caribbean islands and Suriname to the Netherlands to be cancelled and for King Willem-Alexander to speak during the slavery commemoration in Amsterdam's Oosterpark on 1 July.

At least some of these demands already sounded familiar to the Cabinet. They came up last week when some of the signatories were invited to the Catshuis, Prime Minister Mark Rutte's official residence in The Hague. Another meeting will be held there next week.

“It is good that some of our interlocutors have summarized their ideas in the letter, “ the Ministry reported. "They know that we will not adopt everything, we also discussed that in the Catshuis. But we will continue the conversation with them and other stakeholders in the coming period."