Netherlands plans to return and digitize some Colonial-era archives

THE HAGUE--The Dutch government will establish a new policy framework for handling colonial-era archives, including the possible return of archival material, improved digital access and a formal inventory of state archives connected to the colonial past.

The decision is outlined in a May 27, 2026 policy response by Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science Rianne Letschert to the advice of the Council for Culture titled Omgaan met gedeelde bronnen van het koloniale verleden, or Dealing with Shared Sources of the Colonial Past.

The policy response is relevant to St. Maarten and the wider Caribbean part of the Kingdom, as it addresses archives and documentary collections created under Dutch colonial rule, including records connected to slavery, forced labor, colonial administration, economic exploitation and the lives of people in colonized territories.

Minister Letschert said the policy is based on recognition of the historical injustice caused during the colonial period, the willingness to repair that injustice where possible and the need to prevent its continued impact in today’s society. The policy focuses primarily on state archives that fall under the Dutch Archives Act and are managed by the National Archives in the Netherlands and the eleven Regional Historical Centers.

The Minister noted that while the legal ownership of many colonial archives may rest with the Dutch State, their content represents a shared past and therefore a shared interest. These archives contain information about former colonized countries, their people and communities, making access to them important for researchers, descendants, diaspora communities and the countries involved.

The Dutch government will focus on three main policy lines: establishing an inventory of the origins of colonial state archives, creating a procedure for handling restitution requests and expanding digitization and access to these archives.

Under the first policy line, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science will commission an independent party to carry out an exploratory inventory of colonial state archives now held in Dutch archival institutions. The inventory will focus first on archives or parts of archives that may have been transferred to the Netherlands without consent or under pressure, as well as archives whose legal ownership may rest with another country but are held in the Netherlands for practical reasons such as preservation.

The goal is to create a publicly accessible overview of the origin of these archives so that all involved countries and communities have equal access to information that may support future restitution requests. The working method and results of the inventory will also be made available in English. The inventory is expected to begin in the second half of 2026.

Under the second policy line, the Dutch government will establish a commission of independent archive experts in 2026. This commission will have a dual task: to develop an assessment framework for restitution requests and to use that framework when advising the Minister on specific requests.

The framework will include criteria such as the legal status of the archives, their origin and the circumstances under which they were transferred to the Netherlands. The starting point will be that archives or archival documents taken to the Netherlands without consent or under pressure should be returned to the country of origin.

However, the Dutch government also noted that the return of archives is not automatically unconditional, because archives often relate to several countries, communities and diaspora groups at the same time. The policy therefore calls for careful weighing of interests and dialogue with all relevant stakeholders.

For St. Maarten, Aruba, Curaçao and the public entities Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba, restitution requests will be handled in the same manner as requests between states. Private persons or organizations wishing to request the return of archival material must first approach their own government, which may then submit the request to the Dutch State.

The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has already received two restitution requests. In 2024, Curaçao submitted a request concerning the repatriation of the Old Archives of Curaçao, Bonaire and Aruba up to 1828, as well as the Archives of Curaçao, Bonaire and Aruba after 1828. These archives are currently managed by the National Archives in the Netherlands. At the beginning of 2026, Indonesia also submitted a restitution request involving several archives created during the decolonization war.

These existing requests will be handled once the assessment framework has been established. The commission will process requests in the order in which they were received, while involving experts from the countries concerned.

The third policy line focuses on digitization and improved access. The Dutch government said digitization is central to making colonial archives more widely available, especially for communities and researchers outside the Netherlands. Future digitization priorities will take into account the wishes and priorities of the countries of origin.

The government will continue existing programs aimed at making sources related to the shared colonial history of the Kingdom and former colonized countries easier to find, use, interpret and understand. These include programs through the National Archives, the Royal Library, the Metamorfoze program, the Network Digital Heritage, the Dutch Caribbean Digital Heritage Network and other heritage institutions.

The policy response also highlights efforts to improve the description of colonial archives, including work to address non-inclusive language in archive descriptions and finding aids. The National Archives is continuing its work on language, terminology and context in 2026, including the development of a guide and word list to help archive workers use more inclusive terminology.

The Dutch government also linked the policy to the broader follow-up to the apology for the slavery past. Following the report Chains of the Past, the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations made commitments to the six islands in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom: St. Maarten, Saba, St. Eustatius, Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. These commitments form the basis for island action agendas focused on recognition, repair and commemoration of the slavery and colonial past.

The implementation of those action agendas has started and will run through 2029. Part of the work focuses on improving and professionalizing archive, heritage and museum infrastructure in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, with archive-related plans aimed especially at digitization and improved access to colonial archives.

For implementation of the three policy lines concerning colonial archives, the Dutch government has made €200,000 available in 2026 as a start-up budget. From 2027 onward, €500,000 per year will be structurally available. That funding will be used for the origin inventory, the assessment framework, the handling of existing and future restitution requests and the work of the independent archive experts commission.

Minister Letschert said dealing with colonial archives is a long-term process that must be carried out in equal cooperation with all countries and parties involved. She said the policy response seeks to place recognition of historical injustice, repair and the prevention of continued harm at the center of future action.

For St. Maarten and the wider Caribbean part of the Kingdom, the policy opens the door to stronger access to records connected to the colonial and slavery past, a clearer procedure for requesting the return of archives and greater involvement in how shared historical records are preserved, described and made available to future generations.

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