<p>Sentencing rapists to death, as Bangladesh did Thursday, is not an appropriate punishment even for such a heinous crime, the UN rights chief said.</p>.<p>"Tempting as it may be to impose draconian punishments on those who carry out such monstrous acts, we must not allow ourselves to commit further violations," Michelle Bachelet said in a statement.</p>.<p>Her comment came after a Bangladesh court sentenced five men to death Thursday for the 2012 gang-rape of a 15-year-old girl.</p>.<p>It marked the first conviction since the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina this week introduced the death penalty for rape.</p>.<p>Gang rape already carried the death sentence, but rape by a single offender had previously been punishable only by life imprisonment.</p>.<p>Bachelet cited the law change in Bangladesh, but also calls in a number of other countries to impose the death penalty for rape.</p>.<p>She highlighted calls in Pakistan for public hanging and castration of rapists, and a law introduced in the northwestern Nigerian state of Kaduna last month imposing surgical castration followed by execution in rape cases where the victim is under 14.</p>.<p>"The main argument being made for the death penalty is for it to deter rape - but in fact there is no evidence that the death penalty deters crime more than other forms of punishment," Bachelet said.</p>.<p>"Evidence shows that the certainty of punishment, rather than its severity, deters crime."</p>.<p>She stressed that in most countries, "the key problem is that victims of sexual violence do not have access to justice in the first place."</p>.<p>This was due to a range of factors, including "stigma, fear of reprisals, entrenched gender stereotypes and power imbalances," she said, stressing that handing the death penalty to perpetrators would not remove those barriers.</p>
<p>Sentencing rapists to death, as Bangladesh did Thursday, is not an appropriate punishment even for such a heinous crime, the UN rights chief said.</p>.<p>"Tempting as it may be to impose draconian punishments on those who carry out such monstrous acts, we must not allow ourselves to commit further violations," Michelle Bachelet said in a statement.</p>.<p>Her comment came after a Bangladesh court sentenced five men to death Thursday for the 2012 gang-rape of a 15-year-old girl.</p>.<p>It marked the first conviction since the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina this week introduced the death penalty for rape.</p>.<p>Gang rape already carried the death sentence, but rape by a single offender had previously been punishable only by life imprisonment.</p>.<p>Bachelet cited the law change in Bangladesh, but also calls in a number of other countries to impose the death penalty for rape.</p>.<p>She highlighted calls in Pakistan for public hanging and castration of rapists, and a law introduced in the northwestern Nigerian state of Kaduna last month imposing surgical castration followed by execution in rape cases where the victim is under 14.</p>.<p>"The main argument being made for the death penalty is for it to deter rape - but in fact there is no evidence that the death penalty deters crime more than other forms of punishment," Bachelet said.</p>.<p>"Evidence shows that the certainty of punishment, rather than its severity, deters crime."</p>.<p>She stressed that in most countries, "the key problem is that victims of sexual violence do not have access to justice in the first place."</p>.<p>This was due to a range of factors, including "stigma, fear of reprisals, entrenched gender stereotypes and power imbalances," she said, stressing that handing the death penalty to perpetrators would not remove those barriers.</p>