Colleen Ryan

• Border Adviser
• Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)

Ms. Colleen Ryan works at the OSCE Secretariat/Border Security and Management Unit as the Border Adviser. The Border Security and Management Unit of the OSCE Transnational Threats Department supports OSCE participating states and Partners for Co-operation to address emerging border security risks and challenges. The Unit also works closely with other regional and international organizations. She is responsible for managing the unit’s forged travel documents portfolio. The project’s goal is to increase the capacity of border officials to deal with the latest trends in document fraud, as well as the diversity of travel document security features.
Prior to joining the Secretariat’s TNTD/Border Security and Management Unit, Colleen recently worked with a humanitarian NGO in Ukraine assisting IDPs impacted by the war in southern Ukraine. She previously worked with the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine in the Donetsk Patrol Hub where she served as a Ceasefire Monitoring Officer and Deputy Patrol Group Leader until the SMM evacuation from Ukraine. Prior to joining the OSCE, Colleen served as a police officer in the United States for nearly seven years where she worked on patrol and also helped to develop and lead the department’s mental health pilot program which paired police officers with mental health practitioners to respond to mental health crises.
Colleen holds a Master’s in Human Rights with a focus on Women, Peace, and Security issues.