Deborah Schembri (born 1976 or 1977) is a Maltese politician and attorney who was a member of the Parliament of Malta 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 in May 2011 to decide the legality of divorce. Schembri, a 35-year-old family lawyer and single mother, chaired the pro-divorce campaign. Because of her advocacy, the Catholic Church in Malta barred her from practicing law in

ecclesiastical court An ecclesiastical court, also called court Christian or court spiritual, is any of certain courts having jurisdiction mainly in spiritual or religious matters. In the Middle Ages, these courts had much wider powers in many areas of Europe than be ...

, 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 Parliament of Malta 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. She authored a PACE report detailing discrimination against transgender 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 procedures, including hormone treatment and surgery. In November 2013, she announced her candidacy for the

2014 European Parliament election in Malta The 2014 European Parliament election in Malta elected Malta's delegation to the European Parliament from 2014 to 2019. This was the third such election held in Malta. The elections were held on Saturday, 24 May 2014. The parties that contested th ...

. She was endorsed by prime minister Joseph Muscat, 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 people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the referen ...

and civil rights. 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

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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 a Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese pe ...

Other activities

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