Saint Kitts and Nevis, often abbreviated as SKN, is a small island nation located in the Caribbean. It gained independence from Britain in 1983 but remains a member of the Commonwealth with the British monarch as its head of state. The country consists of two main islands, Saint Kitts and Nevis, along with some much smaller islands.

The government structure includes a prime minister as the head of government and a governor- general representing the British crown. The parliament comprises the monarch and the National Assembly, with some members appointed. Nevis, one of the islands, has a degree of autonomy.

Education is compulsory for children aged 5 to 16 and is provided through a system of free public
schools and private church-affiliated schools. The healthcare system includes hospitals and health
centers throughout the islands, with tropical diseases largely eradicated.

Despite its small size, Saint Kitts and Nevis have a rich cultural heritage. Basseterre, the capital, is a
hub of cultural activity. The cuisine, arts, and sports reflect the Caribbean lifestyle, contributing to
the vibrant culture of the nation.

The island nation hosts a population of over 53 thousand individuals of which 92.5% of the population is of African descent. Those of mixed descent, European, and East Indian descent comprise 3%, 2.1%, and 1.5% of the population, respectively. English is the official and most spoken language of the country. Christianity is the predominant religion in St. Kitts and Nevis. Protestant Christians account for 74.4% of the population of the islands.

The fertile soil of the country supports the growth of a variety of fruits and vegetables. Seafood and meat are also an important part of the diet. Some of the most popular dishes are pelau and goat water stew. The former is made from chicken, saltfish, vegetables, pig tail, rice, and pigeon peas. The latter stew is prepared by adding goat meat, breadfruit, papaya, and dumplings in a tomato-based stew.

Rum is one of the most popular alcoholic beverages in the country. Flavored rum is also popular. The Cane Spirits Rothschild is the national drink and is made from fresh sugar cane. In Nevis, a culture of eating together prevails. Cookouts are arranged on Friday and Saturday nights where people feast together, drink, and play games like dominoes.

The islanders of the country have preserved their ancestral history and knowledge through storytelling traditions. Written literature has a relatively recent history in the nation and began with colonial rule and the spread of formal education. Initial works were related to Christianity but later, other types of publications began to emerge.

Among the crafts, pottery from St. Kitts and Nevis is especially notable. Red clay pottery and those fired with colorful glazes and indigenous designs are also well appreciated. Other crafts include wood carving, rug weaving, sculpting, leatherwork, and batiks. The artists of the country have depicted the tropical landscapes and cultural traditions with great precision and beauty.

St. Kitts and Nevis have a thriving scene of music and dance. The annual Carnival is a major celebration. It is held during Christmas time. The Masquerade (mas) is an integral part of the Carnival. The mas performers dance through the streets dressed in brightly colored and patterned dresses and elaborate accessories.

The dances are a blend of waltzes, jigs, African fertility dances, quadrilles, etc. Stilt walkers, clown troupes, and live music bands also take part in the mas. The St Kitts Music Festival and the week-long Culturama are two other festivals related to music and dance that are held in the country.

The influence of British colonial rule is reflected in the country’s choice of the most loved sport, cricket. The game is played both professionally and informally throughout the islands. Horse racing is a popular sport in Nevis. Horse racing events are accompanied by festive celebrations like music and barbecue. Golf, soccer, mountain biking, etc., are other popular sports played on the islands. An annual triathlon and an annual swim event are also held.

The scenario is gradually changing. Traditionally, men were expected to be the breadwinners while women were assigned the responsibility of managing the household and children. With increased literacy among women, more and more of them are entering the country's skilled workforce. They are also becoming successful entrepreneurs and political figures.

The scenario is gradually changing. Traditionally, men were expected to be the breadwinners while women were assigned the responsibility of managing the household and children. With increased literacy among women, more and more of them are entering the country's skilled workforce. They are also becoming successful entrepreneurs and political figures.

The music of Saint Kitts and Nevis is known for a number of musical celebrations including Carnival (December 17 to January 3 on Saint Kitts). The last week in June features the St Kitts Music Festival, while the week-long Culturama on Nevis lasts from the end of July into early August. There are also other festivals on the island of Saint Kitts.
These celebrations typically feature parades, street dances and salsa, jazz, soca, calypso and steelpan music.

In addition, there are other festivals on the island of Saint Kitts. There is Inner City Fest in February in Molineaux Green Valley Festival usually around Whit Monday in the village of Cayon, Easterama around Easter (April) in the village of Sandy Point, Fest-Tab, around July-August in the village of Tabernacle, and La festival de Capisterre, around Independence Day in Saint Kitts and Nevis (19 September), in the Capisterre region.

These celebrations typically feature parades, street dances and salsa, jazz, soca, calypso and steelpan music.

The official genre of St. Kitts and Nevis is called Wilders / Wailaz / Jamband Music. It has a similarity to Soca Music (which originated in Trinidad and Tobago) but it is distinctly different in sound and origin. This music can be heard from the local bands which play on both islands during SugarMas, Culturama and other local activities.

The project aims to build a multifunctional center located in the vicinity of Basseterre, in the island state of St. Kitts and Navis.

The lot is located on the outer perimeter of the Royal Basseterre Valley National Nature Reserve, on a hilly ridge defined by a marked slope, inserted in a context of medium-height reliefs located almost adjacent to the sea line, constituting a morphologically very variable landscape typical of islands of volcanic origin.

The project presents itself as a pole of attraction that can offer residents a wide range of services related to work, education and leisure and at the same time act as an attractive pole for medium and large-scale events to enhance the tourism sector.

In particular, amphitheaters and auditoriums of different capacities will be able to host musical and dance-related events, a wing for coworking and community services, an area for training and relevant services.
The importance of inclusion is even more marked given that it is on the threshold of The Royal Basseterre Valley National Nature Reserve, a park characterized by particular value and care in the preservation of biodiversity.

Two different construction technologies are envisaged for the structure, in particular the use of partitions and punctual elements in reinforced concrete for the foundation works, the retaining walls and the elevation structures up to the various walking surfaces, for the roofs and upper elevations the use of large-span frame structures in laminated wood is envisaged, which will constitute a real "membrane" that crosses and covers all the project volumes.

To contain the thrust of the ground, the various volumes have been designed where possible with stepped systems to minimize the need for deep foundation excavations, moreover the stairwells that cross the lot will constitute "bastions" that in addition to containing the thrusts act as vertical connection elements between the various floors of the volumes.

The roofs are designed with horizontals in light composite steel/LVL panels with metal cladding covering, which can follow the variable trend of the various buildings while minimizing the weight on the structure.

Downstream of the stairwells there are underground cisterns that convey and reuse rainwater. These, together with the strategic positioning of solar panels guaranteed by the excellent exposure of the roofs to the sun, will constitute an excellent basis for the containment and recovery of natural resources.

Nationality is one of the fundamental bases upon which states found their standing vis-à-vis other states on the plane of international law.

It has been stated that international law in respect of nationality is in many respects uncertain. Brownlie says that the lack of criteria in international law regarding nationality produces a “structural defect in certain types of doctrine concerning nationality”.

The International Court of Justice defined nationality in the Nottebohm case as a legal bond having as its basis a social fact of attachment, a genuine connection of existence, interests, and sentiments, together with the existence of reciprocal rights and duties.

It may be said to constitute the juridical expression of the fact that the individual upon whom it is conferred, either directly by the law or as the result of an act of the authorities, is in fact more closely connected with the population of the State conferring nationality than with that of any other State.

The Court made this statement after restating the rule that it is up to “each sovereign State, to settle by its own legislation the rules relating to the acquisition of its nationality”.

The Court declined to address whether “international law imposes any limitations on [the state’s] freedom of decision in this domain”.

It stated that whether nationality is effective vis-à-vis other states in international law, however, is a completely separate question.

One aim of the survey of state practice herein is to examine the extent to which the ICJ’s definition of nationality is challenged or reinforced by the current practice of states in terms of multiple nationality.

If effective nationality on the international plane means that an individual is more closely connected to one state than to any other, what about a world in which individuals increasingly have legal ties to more than one state, such legal status being built into national legislation and policy?

Aside from prompting us to enquire about the definition of nationality at international law, state practice toward multiple nationality also raises issues of subjective judgment as far as recognizing a claim of nationality at international law. In declining to allow Liechtenstein to protect its national Mr. Nottebohm against Guatemala, the state of his long-term residence, the Court had posed the following question:

At the time of his naturalization does Nottebohm appear to have been more closely attached by his tradition, his establishment, his interests, his activities, his family ties, his intentions for the near future to Liechtenstein than to any other State? Naturalization is not a matter to be taken lightly. To seek and to obtain it is not something that happens frequently in the life of a human being. It involves his breaking of a bond of allegiance and his establishment of a new bond of allegiance.

Yet if naturalization does not in fact involve breaking a bond of allegiance, either from the standpoint of the state of original nationality or that of the state whose nationality is acquired, does it not give rise to questions as to the nature of the act and the quality of the relationships involved.

The terms nationality and citizenship are perhaps so often confused precisely because they are so closely connected. O’Leary warns that:

“their present and content are of recent origin and are closely linked to a series of historical and political developments which have varied from place to place”.

The words are often used interchangeably, depending on the language in which a text is written, an author’s concept of the underlying relationship or status being described, and the legal system within which a particular commentator works.

For the purposes of international law, the connection that links individuals to a particular state is labelled a link of “nationality”, notwithstanding a particular individual’s ethnic background or origin, or identity. The word “citizenship” on the other hand should not strictly be used to denote that an individual belongs to a state for the purposes of international law, but that an individual possesses particular rights under a state’s municipal law.

Some authors writing on subjects related to international law use the word citizenship to denote the conceptual and practical status or relationship which has traditionally been labelled nationality.

In terms of municipal and international law, such usage is imprecise, and it behooves us to maintain a theoretical distinction because the practical legal consequences of these statuses can still be distinguished.

This is true and content are of recent origin and are closely linked to a series of historical and political developments which have varied from place to place”.

The terms nationality and citizenship both involve concepts of the relationship between the individual and the state (or wider community), or the status of the individual within the state. It is clear that the specific relationships and statuses have changed over time, as political relations and systems of governance have changed and developed. As already indicated, the terms are not synonymous in international law, but have largely converged in modern times because the people who are nationals of a state most often also make up its citizens.

In this part we are looking at the historical context of the development of this issue.

Greek and Roman ideas of citizenship help us to understand how we got to where we are today but are not direct predecessors of the “nationality” used at present in international law. This is because the modern concept of nationality is of recent origin, with feudal European roots, and essentially related to power over territory as well as natural persons. Nevertheless, Greek and Roman ideas of citizenship can be said to provide a foundation for today’s notion of “nationality” and are directly relevant to current definitions of citizenship.

In ancient Greek cities (in the centuries around the third century BCE), concepts of citizenship revolved around political and economic rights at the local level, in addition to religious privileges and duties.

Only in later times did the concept expand to rights within a wider community. O’Leary cites Koessler’s definition of modern citizenship as “possession of the highest or at least of a certain higher category of political rights and (or) duties, established by the nation’s or state’s constitution”.

This definition of citizenship, adopted herein, reflects the ancient a Greek concept of citizenship, related to the rights of persons within a community, and the relationship among citizens as members of a “polis” or community.

In ancient Greece for example, the laws prohibiting marriage or cohabitation of Athenian male citizens or Athenian women, with foreigners, were based on principles against the usurpation of citizenship rights and the rights of offspring in the community.

The prohibition was not related to any conflict that might arise between communities over the individuals in question. In this sense, citizenship does not seem to have had negative ramifications outside the polis, or in terms of the relationships among poleis. Multiple citizenship, however, was indeed a possibility.

In ancient Greek poleis the assembly of the citizens could grant citizenship to an individual or to citizens of other poleis in exceptional circumstances.

The Roman classification of persons was, however, more complicated than simply citizen versus non-citizen. In terms of fundamental categories, the Roman world was divided into free persons and slaves, the latter having no legal rights, while free persons were not necessarily citizens, but divided into the categories of citizens, Latins, foreigners, or dediticii (“foreigners who had fought against the Romans and surrendered”).

Foreigners were Freemen who were not either Roman citizens or Latins not regarded by the Romans as having such full rights over their children as Romans had, but certain rights of inter- marriage with Romans were recognized, with the effect that the children became in some cases Roman citizens or Latins. Business was transacted with them according to what the Romans called the law of the world (jus gentium)

The “nationality” describes the specific, primary relationship between the state and an individual (a national of said state), which gives rise to particular rights and obligations in relation to that individual on the plane of the law of nations.

This status is sometimes described as citizenship precisely because citizens form the greatest part of a country’s nationals, and writers thus tend to use the words interchangeably.

This is, however, incorrect in a pure sense, as the inverse is not true: not all of a given state’s nationals are its citizens.

There are many historical examples for this proposition, but notwithstanding changes to notions of civil rights in many countries, The convergence of nationality and citizenship in many states’ municipal legislation should not be interpreted as a convergence of the nationality and citizenship on the plane of inter- national law. Furthermore, examples of non-citizen nationals still exist, especially in the context of colonial territories, whose populations have sometimes been accorded the nationality of the metropolitan state, without the rights of citizenship. This is the case of British Nationals (Overseas) who possess British nationality due to their connection with Hong Kong when it was a Crown Colony of the United Kingdom.

Likewise, the legal category of United States non-citizen National still exists, although it relates only to “persons born in or having ties with” American Samoa and Swains Island, as well as “certain inhabitants of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands”. These US nationals can obtain the rights of US citizenship easily if they move to the United States

Caporal points out that non-citizen nationals still include persons deprived of political or other rights, or citizenship, who remain subjects of the state, or nationals.

Deprivation of citizenship rights does not necessarily mean deprivation of nationality, although it may.

Citizenship, strictly speaking, is a term of municipal law, and denotes the possession within the particular state of full civil and political rights, subject to special disqualifications, such as minority or sex. The conditions on which citizenship is acquired are regulated by municipal law.

If citizenship is indeed regulated by municipal law, this may be questioned. In this sense, the increasing provision of certain rights of citizenship to non-nationals, as in the rapidly evolving framework of agreements underpinning the free movement of persons, goods, and capital in the European Union, underscore the difference of nationality and citizenship. It would seem to be a matter of controversy whether citizenship as a status of municipal law produces consequences in international law.

Having distinguished between nationality and citizenship, note should be made of the specific ideas and context of citizenship itself. This is important not only because citizenship status is so closely related to nationality, but because it is possible to imagine that the two concepts may merge, or draw further apart, in the future.

In most countries, attribution of nationality by the state means possession of citizenship and the rights attached, with notable exceptions, such as the United Kingdom. Just as the attribution of nationality at international law is a matter left to states, so is the attribution of citizenship. As presented above, the effects or consequences of nationality are not the same as the effects and consequences of citizenship. Some countries extend many of the rights usually associated with citizenship to non-nationals/citizens, usually permanent residents. Possession of the status of citizen does however not necessarily mean that citizenship rights or entitlements can be exercised. For example, in many countries citizens resident overseas cannot exercise their franchise in their home countries.

On the other hand, citizen status, or even permanent resident status, can produce obligations that must be fulfilled, simply on the basis of that connection. In the United States, the obligation to file an income tax return applies not only to permanent residents of the country, a typical provision in tax laws, but to all citizens of the United States, regardless of their place of permanent residence. The obligation of military service is a similar category, although state practice would seem to be moving toward a more defined link based on age and residence, in addition to citizenship status or nationality.

In order to present a picture of current state practice toward multiple nationality, in addition to a review of municipal legislation, state policy must be examined. It was outlined that the policy that would be addressed is only that which directly relates to multiple nationality, as opposed to the many areas of municipal law that are arguably affected by multiple nationality, considerations which can often be labeled as related to citizenship. In this sense the separation of the two areas seems more difficult. Because the two categories are so closely woven together in much municipal legislation, one is confronted with the issue of whether in terms of policy they can in fact be separated. For example, where authors do not specifically differentiate between nationality and citizenship, their analysis must be considered to reflect the fact that some of the factors that states incorporate into their municipal laws on acquisition and loss of nationality arguably have to do with the exercise of rights and performance of duties belonging to citizenship, as opposed to nationality, yet the state labels them as the same thing.

Another question that should be canvassed is whether, the identifiable effects in international law would change if the issue were practice toward multiple citizenship? While this question seems beyond the scope of what is examined here, due to the inter penetration of the two statuses, or insufficient definition of one status in relation to the other in municipal law, its context is certainly relevant.

This statement clarifies that whether diplomatic and consular protection is a right of citizenship depends on municipal law. Under international law it is a state’s right vis-à-vis other states pursuant to a link of nationality. It is arguable that should the European Union provide for a “right of citizenship” which includes diplomatic and consular protection, this would in fact be no more than an international agreement giving rise to a “protégé” relationship, still based on a link of nationality.

It was argued at the outset of this essay that nationality and citizenship are still recognizable categories for the purposes of municipal and international law, as their consequences are separable, and the individuals included in each category do not coincide in certain states (and do not have to). Should it become evident, however, that the categories’ membership overlaps exactly in a large majority of states, this would create a need for an examination whether their consequences in international and municipal law have indeed merged.

It would be remiss not to mention the connection between the specific legal regulations applicable to nationality (and citizenship), and individual and collective identity. Here, nationality seems to enter the realm of emotion and conviction, but with palpable legal effect. The extent to which identity is or should be an issue in conferring citizenship rights or nationality is a matter of controversy.

Consistent with the deferential posture of international law toward citizenship practice generally, most investment citizenship pro- grams in their ordinary operation will be consistent with international law.

The “genuine link” concept is more broadly salient, which explains its invocation by opponents of investment citizenship. But, as described above, “genuine link” is a jurisprudential chimera. It has not been applied to constrain the allocation of citizenship, only to limit the international effect of nationality in a very narrowly defined set of circumstances.

These observations apply to investment citizenship as with other forms of citizenship. On balance, individuals are unlikely to have preexisting sociological ties to the state from which they have secured investor citizenship. But at least for those programs requiring an investment, investor citizens will in some cases at least have a continuing economic stake in the country. It is difficult to say that such an economic stake is less meaningful than the sometimes very thin ties establishing citizenship eligibility on other grounds.

One of the most stable citizenship by investment program in the world has been granted by St. Kitts & Nevis, we can see how the new changes in the program help the country to grow the economy and improve the environment.