A minute of silence was observed for the thousands of Indigenous remains still held in Dutch soil—literally and metaphorically. After the ceremony, the remains were placed in climate-controlled transport containers and flown to St. Eustatius on a Royal Netherlands Air Force flight, accompanied by a Statian delegation. The Dutch government funded the entire repatriation, including future DNA analysis efforts if requested by the community.

: The island is also seeking to recover artifacts currently housed at William & Mary in the United States.

For more than three decades, the remains of nine Indigenous individuals lay in storage at Leiden University in the Netherlands, thousands of miles from the Caribbean island where they once lived. Today, they have finally come home. In a significant restitution effort, the Dutch government has repatriated the ancestral remains to the island of St. Eustatius (locally known as Statia), marking a turning point in how the Netherlands addresses its colonial legacy and the rights of Caribbean communities to reclaim their heritage.

The repatriation did not come without contention. Some Dutch academic circles expressed concern that returning the remains would close the door on potential DNA and bioarchaeological studies, which they argued could shed light on ancient migration patterns in the Caribbean.

The repatriation of the indigenous remains to St. Eustatius is a significant step towards reconciliation and healing, not just for the island's native community but also for the Netherlands as a whole. It acknowledges the historical injustices perpetrated against indigenous peoples and takes concrete steps to address them.

For the people of St. Eustatius, this was not merely a museum transaction; it was a spiritual and cultural homecoming.