the question you have to talk about, slavery, with people from the destination and people here, and we don t accept 19 december. instead, many wanted to wait until the first ofjuly next year, to witness this historic moment on what will be the 160th anniversary of the dutch emancipation act. today, i apologise. and he repeated in surinamese. and a caribbean dialect. today, on behalf of the dutch government. i apologise for the actions of the dutch state in the past. posthumously to all enslaved people worldwide who have suffered from those actions. to their daughters and sons, and to all of their descendents
more than 600,000 people, mostly from africa and asia, were trafficked by dutch merchants between the 17th and 19th centuries. some campaigners say that merely confronting the events of the past is an insufficient gesture for the descendants of slaves living in the country today. our correspondent anna holligan sent this report. generations have been waiting to hear this word, but the dutch government s approach to saying sorry for slavery has reignited a sense of exclusion and distrust. the question you have to talk about, slavery, with people from the destination and people here, and we don t accept 19 december. instead, many wanted to wait until the first ofjuly next