Botswana has started rolling out major changes to its citizenship and immigration framework in a move aimed at saving many from the jaws of statelessness.

Many in Botswana are trapped in the misery of statelessness, as children born to one of the parents being an immigrant are finding it difficult to get citizenship, with some staying for years without documents.

But when addressing a press conference in Gaborone recently, Botswana's Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Pius Mokgware, said the rolling out of the multiple citizenship framework will address issues of statelessness.

"I am happy to report that we have started the partial implementation of the multiple citizenship framework.'

Buttressing the point in the local vernacular, Setswana, Mokgware added that the implementation process will protect families with ties across borders and address longstanding issues around statelessness.

"We have got a lot of children who are born between a local and an immigrant who have been denied the right to education because they had no identity cards. We have immigrants married to locals. They are being denied work because they do possess an identity card. Those are the people we are trying to help by implementing this multiple citizenship framework."

In recent months, Botswana granted 64 refugees citizenship as an affirmation of the neighbouring country's administration to protect and uphold human rights.