Barbara “Bobbie” Rubin of Santa Barbara was honored in New York City this summer as one of five recipients of the 2023 PACT (Protect All Children from Trafficking) Freedom Award.
Rubin, a PACT New York Board member emerita, was among those recognized for advancing human rights around the globe.
In January the U.S. Department of State reported 27.6 million people were victims of human trafficking worldwide. Some 23% were in situations of forced commercial sexual exploitation, and half of them were children, PACT reports.
Since 1991, PACT has been working to protect every child’s right to grow up free from sexual exploitation and trafficking.
Rubin’s background includes volunteer work with such nonprofits as Presbyterian Women USA, and Girl Scouts USA, as well as her foundation work focusing on the needs of women and children.
In the 1990s Rubin became a primary initiator of the movement to protect women and children from sexual exploitation.
Rubin played a key role in the development of PACT, said Carol Smolenski, co-founder and former CEO of ECPAT-USA (now PACT).
“Among the early supporters, I can honestly say none was more committed than Bobbie Rubin,” Smolenski said as she presented her friend with the PACT Freedom Award. “You will never meet someone kinder, more gracious, or more generous. I love Bobbie Rubin.”
Other PACT Freedom Award honorees for 2023 include:
• Marcellus W. Osceola Jr., Chairman of the Seminole Tribe of Florida
• Mariann Billie, Councilwoman of the Seminole Tribe of Florida
• James Dold, Founder & CEO, Human Rights for Kids (HRFK), Washington, D.C.
• Brentwood Union Free School District, Long Island, New York
For information or to make a donation, visit WeArePACT.org.