on various grounds including religion. Section 234 of the Constitution makes allowance for charters of rights consistent with the Constitution to be adopted by Parliament. Section 234 states "In order to deepen the culture of democracy established by the Constitution, Parliament may adopt Charters of Rights consistent with the provisions of the Constitution". The Service Charter for Victims of Crime in South Africa was approved by Parliament in accordance with this constitutional provision on 1 December 2004. Drafting of the charter In 1990 Judge Albie Sachs, Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa from 1994 to 2009, wrote: The need to draft a charter that would make clear what freedom of religion entails for the people of South Africa, by the people of South Africa, was realised after conferences on the relationship between religion and the state and freedom of religion at the University of Stellenbosch in post-apartheid South Africa. The charter was drafted over a period of several years by a group of academics, religious scholars, religious leaders, statutory commissioners and international legal experts in consultation with all major religious, human rights and media groups in South Africa. The first draft of the charter was unveiled at a gathering of religious groups on 14 February 2008. Among those present were representatives of Christian denominations, African independent churches, those of Jewish and Islamic faith, the SA Tamil Federation and academic institutions and statutory bodies. The Continuation Committee was appointed by those present at this gathering to complete the process of finalising the charter. Amendments were made to the document by the Continuation Committee and it was developed through suggestions and input from the wide community of leaders and groups among which it was circulated prior to its public endorsement on 21 October 2010. The charter has been made available in six of South Africa's official languages, namely English, Afrikaans, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sepedi and Tswana. The members of the Continuation Committee per the final document, as amended on 6 August 2009 and 1 October 2009, were: P Coertzen (Chairperson), I Benson, S Boshoff, J Creer, D Erekson, Rabbi Greens, A Knoetze, C Landman, W Langeveldt, E Malherbe, N Mndende, A Sedick and K Thompson. Endorsement of the charter The charter endorsement is worded as follows: The charter was first signed at a public endorsement ceremony in Johannesburg on 21 October 2010 in the presence of signatories and keynote speaker Deputy