A pack of wild smooth-coated otters, nicknamed the “Zouk family”, crosses Penang Road in Singapore on March 3, 2021, the World Wildlife Day. The “Zouks”, a well-known otter family in Singapore, started out from the Istana on Wednesday, and made a “royal” tour of various landmarks in Singapore. (Photo by Chine Nouvelle/SIPA Press/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

As the world marks the International Day of the Girl Child, women's rights activists point to progress on a wide array of issues but say more needs to be done to protect girls from child marriage, sexual assault and other forms of exploitation. Here is a selection of pictures showing the daily lives of girls across the globe, all taken by female Associated Press photojournalists. Here: In this December 14, 2015, file photo, a young clown rides in the back of a car following a procession to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Hundreds belonging to various clown associations made their annual pilgrimage to the Basilica to pay their respects to the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico's patron saint. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)

Self-titled Pricasso – real name Tim Patch, 71, – is using his very own pen*s to create his masterpiece – and claims to have made close to £500k from his saucy paintings. Here: Pricasso gets to work with his tools - and paints The Sun's newspaper correspondent Amy Nickell with his bits in London, England on November 5, 2019. (Photo by Stewart Williams/The Sun)

Traditional dancers with their masks look on before their performance during “Nawa Durga Nach” Hindu dance festival in Bhaktapur on the outskirts of Kathmandu on March 28, 2024. (Photo by Prakash Mathema/AFP Photo)

American Fork High School's Haven Empey poses for photos on Wednesday, November 13, 2019, after being named Ms. Soccer 2019 by the Deseret News in Utah, US. (Photo by Scott G. Winterton/Deseret News)

A Chinese tourist uses the scarf of a friend as she is helped while she and others struggle to climb in the wind on an icy section of the Great Wall at Badaling, on a cold day after a snowfall on November 30, 2019 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

An otter reaches for a snack from a customer at an otter cafe in Tokyo. Asian small-clawed otters are increasingly popular as novelty pets, particularly in Japan. Now international trade in the species may be banned. (Photo by Noriko Hayashi/The New York Times)

Revellers shield themselves as they celebrate in the rain near Stonehenge stone circle, despite official Summer Solstice celebrations being cancelled due to the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), near Amesbury, Britain, June 21, 2020. (Photo by Toby Melville/Reuters)