Four months after world powers pledged more than $11 billion to help Syria's neighbours cope with the refugee crisis, less than a quarter of that amount has been collected, AFP reported Wednesday (June 15th).

"I think there is a collective failure that will have to be addressed," said Amin Awad, UN High Commissioner for Refugees director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Since February, when foreign ministers from around the world gathered at a London donor conference, only $2.5 billion have been disbursed.

This is in the form of loans, grants for specific uses like student bursaries and straight-forward humanitarian aid, but it has not proved enough.

"I think the frontline states are disappointed and they feel they are left alone," Awad said.

He said he does not want to see the UN refugee agency dragged into any national debate, but he is very clear about what is at risk if pledges are not met.

"We have to look at the security issues that we are looking at globally now," Awad said.

"We have to look at radicalisation, we have to look at the massive movement of people, and we have to look at the despair that those refugees face."