Celebrating World Refugee Day: Human Library

Bronwen May is a Partner in the Hogan Lovells Hong Kong Finance Practice. Having lived in Asia for nearly 20 years, Bronwen has a strong understanding of the markets here. She advises on a whole host of derivative and structured product matters: the full range of OTC documentation, all underlying asset classes (credit, equity, fixed income, FX, fund-linked, commodities, indices) and debt issuance and structured product programmes. Clients include banks, funds, institutional investors, private investors, retail investors, and high net worth individuals. On the regulatory side, Bronwen helps clients make sense of the flood of new derivative regulations from across the globe: Dodd-Frank, the Volcker Rule, EMIR, and regulations from the HKMA, SFC, and regulators across the Asia-Pacific Region.
Bronwen sits on Hogan Lovells Diversity Committee for Hong Kong and APME, and leads on 'Breaking Barriers', our local Women's initiatives.

Mr. A is a lawyer who fled his home country, Burundi, in 2004. He arrived in Hong Kong and was granted refugee status by UNHCR within 5 days. In 2013. Mr. A became the first refugee in Hong Kong to be given permission to work and was employed by Christian Action Centre for Refugees where he continues to work and serve the refugee community today. He is married and a father of 5 children.
‘It’s sad, but a reality that I cannot recognise my own children on the phone. They have grown up without a father. Without even saying goodbye, I was forced to leave my children 14 years ago. I dream of the day when I will hug them, especially my daughter whom I never met as my wife was pregnant with her when I left. But I believe every single thing happens on purpose, and hope is the key!!’

Jonnet has worked with the refugee population in Hong Kong for over 13 years. Her strength lies in community work, client management, programme development and volunteer coordination. She is very passionate about ethnic minority issues and aspires to help make a difference in the community through Christian Action, as well as on personal capacity. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Major in Consular and Diplomatic Affairs in the Philippines.

Ms. Patricia Ho is a Hong Kong based human rights lawyer. Much of her and her firm Daly, Ho & Associates' work involves defending the rights of minority groups in Hong Kong. Her cases include a number of landmark judicial review test cases concerning asylum seekers/refugees (issues include access to social welfare, release from detention, permission to work), transgender persons (discriminatory treatment in detention), domestic helpers (right to security), sex workers (right to security) and victims of human trafficking. Apart from litigation, Patricia provides legal and strategic advice to a number of NGOs in Hong Kong, and works with both local and international bodies to advocate for the rights of marginalised groups in Hong Kong.