Anuradha Vittachi

Anuradha Vittachi "fled into exile from her native Sri Lanka at the age of 13, after her journalist family was subjected to life-threatening political persecution. This attempt to silence truth-telling journalists set her lifelong conviction in the importance of responsible media and good governance.

"She is an internationally published journalist and an award-winning TV documentary-maker on global justice issues, and the author of acclaimed books on global survival (featuring Carl Sagan and James Lovelock on climate change) and on child rights around the world.

"In 2000, the British Government selected her to be the UK’s civil society delegate to the G8 Summit’s Digital Opportunity Taskforce (DOTForce).

"In 1994-5, she co-founded the OneWorld Network, with its 13 OneWorld centres worldwide, and was its first editor, winning OneWorld.net a cabinetful of awards. In 1997 she was chosen UK Woman of the Year for new media.

"Currently Anuradha is Director Emerita of OneWorld’s governing body, Executive Director of OneWorld UK, and instigator of the OneClimate Initiative, which uniquely integrates Second Life islands with OneClimate.net (a ‘Climate Facebook’) and daily Climate News services, as a contribution to the birth of a low-carbon world - a fair and sustainable home for the world’s children."

"Anuradha Vittachi (Co-Chair) is director of the new OneWorld International Foundation, inaugurated in December 1999. She is an internationally published author and journalist. Born in Sri Lanka, Ms. Vittachi escaped into political exile with her journalist family at the age of thirteen, to be educated in Kuala Lumpur, London, and Oxford. Her articles on global issues have been published in journals all over the world. Her books include Stolen Childhood: In Search of the Rights of the Child, to accompany the Channel Four series of the same name, and Earth Conference One, on global survival. Ms. Vittachi has also been an award-winning television producer, her credits include the BBC documentaries on Oxfam’s aid to India, and The Two-Edged Sword, on the global arms trade. As the founding editor of OneWorld Online in 1995, she pioneered the development of the OneWorld supersite. Along with Peter Armstrong, she was until recently a director of the OneWorld Broadcasting Trust and OneWorld Online. In 1997, she was named Woman of the Year in the United Kingdom."