Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has apologized on behalf of the state for the Netherlands' role in slavery history.
"The Dutch state and its representatives have enabled, encouraged and benefited from slavery for centuries," Rutte said in a televised address on Monday.
It is true that no one alive today is personally to blame for this, Rutte said.
However, the Dutch state bears "responsibility for the immeasurable suffering inflicted on the enslaved and their descendants".
Slavery must be recognized as a crime against humanity as clearly as possible.
The move had been expected after a government expert commission recommended an apology along with reparations in 2021.
Rutte ruled this out in advance.
The Netherlands was expected to set up an education fund with a volume of 200 million euros.
Historians believe that Dutch slave traders transported more than half a million Africans to North and South America, particularly Brazil and the Caribbean.
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