Outline of Regional Toolkit on Nationality Legislation This Regional Toolkit on Nationality Legislation provides model provisions for the various relevant areas of nationality law. Each provision is placed within its international legal context, and relevant examples are provided in order to illustrate the potential benefits that adoption of the provisions is likely to entail. The provisions included in the Regional Toolkit on Nationality Legislation should be viewed as an ideal which individual States may modify according to their unique circumstances and legal system, while taking into consideration international legal obligations. Taken together, the provisions of the Regional Toolkit on Nationality Legislation are intended to be a complete toolbox for States to draw on, according to their needs. The provisions included in this Regional Toolkit on Nationality Legislation provide guidance on the law relating to the acquisition, as well as the withdrawal of nationality. There are three primary ways in which nationality is conferred to individuals by States, namely, by birth on the territory (jus soli or law of the soil), by descent or parentage (jus sanguinis or law of the blood), or by naturalization. Nationality conferred according to the principles of jus soli and jus sanguinis are the two most common methods by which States provide for nationality at birth, model provisions related to both means of acquiring nationality are included. In line with recent developments in the region, the model provisions relating to the acquisition of nationality at birth strengthen women’s nationality rights and gender equality in the conferral of nationality, thereby enhancing the protection of women, children and families in line with key international standards. A separate provision on the conferral of nationality to foundlings, or children who are found in the territory of a country with no identifiable parents, is included in this Regional Toolkit on Nationality Legislation. The majority of LAS member States already have provisions designed to protect foundlings, which reflects the particular vulnerability of this group of people. Though it does not confer nationality itself, birth registration is incorporated in this Regional Toolkit on Nationality Legislation as it serves in practice as important evidence of nationality. The Declaration on Belonging and Legal Identity prioritizes universal birth registration in the region, reinforcing 11