In this January 4, 2016 photo, the weapon of a rebel fighter for the 36th Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, hangs from a branch serving as a makeshift clothesline, near a rebel camp, in Antioquia state, in the northwest Andes of Colombia. “We’ll lay aside our weapons, like the accord says, but never hand them over”, says Juan Pablo, a commander of the 36th Front. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

Astronomer, space scientist and meteorologist Andrea Opitz, senior research associate of the Space Physics and Space Technology Department of Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) Wigner Research Centre for Physics (2R) wears a space suit during a cosmology exhibition in Budapest, Hungary, 03 March 2016. The photo series was created to mark the International Women's Day (IWD), which was marked for the first time in 1911 and is celebrated on 08 March since 1913. (Photo by Bea Kallos/EPA)

Bangladeshi fisherman feed their otters as they catch fish in Narail some 208 kms from Dhaka on March 11, 2014. The fishermen are using a rare technique that relies on coordination between man and trained otters, a centuries-old fishing partnership that has already long died out in other parts of Asia. (Photo by Munir Uz Zaman/AFP Photo)

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)

A woman holds a picture as people pray during a funeral, following a mass shooting at a day care centre, at Wat Rat Samakee, in the town of Uthai Sawan, in the province of Nong Bua Lam Phu, Thailand on October 9, 2022. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

Pet dogs wearing sunglasses and face mask on board a tricycle are pictured in Chinatown district of Manila on January 20, 2023, ahead of the Lunar New Year of the Rabbit which falls on January 22. (Photo by Ted Aljibe/AFP Photo)

A stray cat is checked on the eve of International Cat Day in Banda Aceh on August 7, 2023. (Photo by Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP Photo)

Spanish flamenco dancer Salome Ramirez performs in the show “Authentic Flamenco”, the show of the Teatro Real in Madrid, at the Sao Pedro theater in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 14 December 2022. After a successful tour in the United States and India, the show has arrived in the country of samba and carnivals, this time by the dancer Eduardo Guerrero and his work “Faro”. (Photo by Isaac Fontana/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)