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The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, has formally apologised for his country's involvement in the slave trade calling it a "crime against humanity". 

Mr Rutte said the suffering that slavery had inflicted on untold numbers of people continued to this day.

More than 600,000 people from Africa and Asia were trafficked by Dutch merchants, between the 17th and 19th Centuries. 

Along with the formal apology, the Dutch government is expected to allocate €200m (£175m) to awareness projects and pledge to spend €27m on a slavery museum.

Mercedes Zandwijken is the founder of the Keti Koti Dialogue Table foundation, a Dutch group that tries to bring black and white people together to have face-to-face conversations about racism.

She gave Newshour her reaction to the apology:

"My great-grandmother was enslaved, my mother who is 93 years old was raised by a woman who was enslaved. So for us, it's such an important day that these apologies were finally made."

(Photo: Mercedes Zandwijken and Machiel Keestra of the Keti Koti Table foundation, arrive at the Catshuis, the official residence of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, 08 December 2022, for a discussion about apologies for the country's slavery past. Credit: EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

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