Deborah Schembri (born 1976 or 1977)[1] 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.
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.[2][3] Because of her advocacy, the Catholic Church in Malta barred her from practicing law in ecclesiastical court, resulting in a 40 percent loss in her income.[3] Schembri participated in several televised debates with Anna Vella, the chair of the anti-divorce campaign.[3] 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.[4][5] The bill was passed by the legislature and signed into law in July that year.[6]
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.[7] 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.[8][9] In the assembly, Schembri was an advocate for accessible and affordable gender reassignment procedures, including hormone treatment and surgery.[10]
In November 2013, she announced her candidacy for the 2014 European Parliament election in Malta.[11] She was endorsed by prime minister Joseph Muscat, who had asked her to run. Schembri ran on a platform focused primarily on job creation and civil rights.[12] She was not successful in the November 2014 election, receiving 5,983 votes and finishing eighth among the Labour candidates.[13]
Schembri was appointed as parliamentary secretary for planning and simplification in January 2016 after Michael Falzon resigned.[1] 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.[14][15] She also introduced an amnesty bill for buildings with planning illegalities and increased fines on fish farm operators whose feeding practices resulted in pollution of the Maltese coast.[16][17] Schembri lost a close race for re-election in 2017, and was succeeded by Clayton Bartolo.[18]
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.[19]
