Deborah Schembri (born 1976 or 1977) is a Maltese politician and attorney who was a member of the

Parliament of Malta The Parliament of Malta () is the constitutional legislative body in Malta, located in Valletta. The parliament is unicameral, with a democratically elected House of Representatives and the president of Malta. By constitutional law, all gover ...

from 2013 to 2017. She is known for leading the pro-divorce movement during the

2011 Maltese divorce referendum A referendum on divorce was held in Malta on 28 May 2011. Voters were asked whether they approved of a new law to introduce allowing divorces, as at that time, Malta was one of only three countries in the world (along with the Philippines and the ...

2011 pro-divorce campaign

Malta held a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

in May 2011 to decide the legality of

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

. Schembri, a 35-year-old

family law Family law (also called matrimonial law or the law of domestic relations) is an area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations. Overview Subjects that commonly fall under a nation's body of family law include: * Marriag ...

yer and single mother, chaired the pro-divorce campaign. Because of her advocacy, the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in Malta barred her from practicing law in

ecclesiastical court In organized Christianity, an ecclesiastical court, also called court Christian or court spiritual, is any of certain non-adversarial courts conducted by church-approved officials having jurisdiction mainly in spiritual or religious matters. Histo ...

, resulting in a 40 percent loss in her income. Schembri participated in several televised debates with Anna Vella, the chair of the anti-divorce campaign. She declared victory on 29 May after initial results showed a majority of voters supporting legalizing divorce, and urged the ruling Nationalist Party to immediately pass the corresponding legislation. The bill was passed by the legislature and signed into law in July that year.

Member of Parliament

Schembri was elected to the

in March 2013 as a member of the Labour Party, and also became a member of the Maltese delegation in the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up of ...

. She authored a PACE report detailing discrimination against

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

people in Europe after meeting with officials and transgender rights advocates in several countries, including England, Scotland, Spain, and Turkey. In the assembly, Schembri was an advocate for accessible and affordable

gender reassignment Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other than th ...

procedures, including hormone treatment and surgery. In November 2013, she announced her candidacy for the 2014 European Parliament election in Malta. She was endorsed by prime minister

Joseph Muscat Joseph Muscat (born 22 January 1974) is a Maltese politician who served as the 13th prime minister of Malta from 2013 to 2020 and leader of the Labour Party from 2008 to 2020. Muscat was first elected Prime Minister in March 2013 with 54.83 ...

, who had asked her to run. Schembri ran on a platform focused primarily on

job creation Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work dur ...

and

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

. She was not successful in the November 2014 election, receiving 5,983 votes and finishing eighth among the Labour candidates. Schembri was appointed as parliamentary secretary for planning and simplification in January 2016 after Michael Falzon resigned. She oversaw a series of major reforms of Malta's Lands Department after the corruption scandal that led to Falzon's resignation, including appointing an audit officer to supervise public land transactions over €100,000. She also introduced an amnesty bill for buildings with planning illegalities and increased fines on

fish farm Fish farming or pisciculture involves commercial breeding of fish, most often for food, in fish tanks or artificial enclosures such as fish ponds. It is a particular type of aquaculture, which is the controlled cultivation and harvesting of aq ...

operators whose feeding practices resulted in pollution of the Maltese coast. Schembri lost a close race for re-election in 2017, and was succeeded by

Clayton Bartolo Clayton Bartolo (born 2 June 1987) is an accountant and registered auditor. He is a Maltese ( Labour Party) politician and former Minister for Tourism. He first entered politics as a councillor and later deputy mayor of the local council of Me ...

Other activities

After leaving office, Schembri became a legal consultant for the Maltese

Planning Authority A local planning authority (LPA) is the local government body that is empowered by law to exercise urban planning functions for a particular area. They exist in the United Kingdom and India. United Kingdom Mineral planning authorities The role ...

and Lands Authority. She is also the chair of the board of appeals for the government fostering agency.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schembri, Deborah 1970s births 21st-century Maltese politicians 21st-century Maltese women politicians Labour Party (Malta) politicians Living people Maltese activists 21st-century Maltese lawyers Maltese women activists Members of the House of Representatives of Malta Women members of the House of Representatives of Malta