Anti-government protests have continued daily since March
More than 5,000 people are now believed to have been killed in the uprising in Syria, the UN's top human rights official has said.
Navi Pillay told a closed session of the Security Council that 14,000 people are believed to have been arrested and 12,400 fled to neighbouring countries.
At least 20 people died in clashes on Monday, opposition activists said.
Amid the violence, local polls were held, but turnout is expected to have been very low.
Authorities said the vote had been freer than in previous years, but the opposition called for a boycott and launched a general strike.
The Syrian state news agency said people had flocked to polling stations.
But in opposition strongholds activists said there were few signs that an election was even happening, and almost no-one was voting, says the BBC's Jonathan Head in neighbouring Turkey.
Call for action
Navi Pillay described the situation in Syria as "intolerable" and said crimes against humanity had probably been committed.
Ms Pillay said her estimate of more than 5,000 deaths did not include security forces. The Syrian government has said more than 1,000 of its police and troops have been killed.
It is difficult to confirm the exact casualty toll in Syria because there are no independent monitors on the ground and Syrian authorities have not allowed the international media access to the country.
The UN official said the protesters in Syria had remained largely peaceful since the uprising erupted in March, but that attacks against Syrian government had been increasing.
Ms Pillay warned that inaction by the international community would only embolden the Syrian authorities.
The EU has imposed 10 rounds of sanctions on the Syrian government, and the Arab League has suspended it, but the UN has not yet passed a resolution condemning Damascus.
Russia and China both vetoed a European-led draft at the UN in October, while India, South Africa and Brazil have also been reluctant to support action at the Security Council.
Ms Pillay urged the Security Council to "to speak coherently with one voice. Urgent, effective measures in a collective and decisive manner must be taken to protect Syrians", she said.
After meeting Ms Pillay, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he was "really shocked about what I heard about the atrocities in Syria".
He said countries on the Security Council that were still hesitating to condemn Damascus had to change their mind.
There does not seem to be a solution in sight. As the violence continues, she says, Syria's neighbours and other countries, like the United States, France and the UK, are trying to figure out what they can actually do about it.
General strike
Fighting is said to have continued in several cities on Monday, with at least 20 people reported killed.
The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), a network of opposition activists, said the deaths had occurred in Idlib in the north, Homs and Hama further south, and in a suburb of Damascus. Fierce fighting is also reportedly continuing in the southern province of Deraa.
Local elections were held across the country - part of President Assad's very slow, gradual and not entirely convincing reform programme announced some months ago, says the BBC's Jonathan Head in Istanbul, in neighbouring Turkey.
He says the official government version of events talks of large numbers of people going to the polls, and indeed a plea from the prime minister calling on people to save the country by going out to vote.
But, he says, the picture in contested areas of Syria - in Homs, Hama, Deraa, Deir al-Zour, Idlib, even some neighbourhoods of Damascus - is one of continued protests and fighting.
The opposition called a general strike over the weekend, and much of the country has more or less shut down. Activists say little or no voting took place in these areas, and that the elections here were irrelevant.
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