People see in the new year at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on January 1, 2024. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

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 demonstrator is detained during May Day rallies in Santiago May 1, 2013. (Photo by Ivan Alvarado/Reuters)

A general view of Hong Kong's business district is seen Thursday, August 1, 2013. (Photo by Vincent Yu/AP Photo)

Artwork by Ruth Bellotti & Steve Rosewell called “Soldier Scale 1:1” is seen at the 2008 Sculpture by the Sea launch at Mark's Park, Bondi on October 15, 2008 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Gaye Gerard/Getty Images)

People view the sunrise scene at the Bund in Shanghai, east China, January 1, 2017. (Photo by Wang Hechun/Xinhua/Barcroft Images)

A model takes photographs during the World Bodypainting Festival in Poertschach, Austria, July 1, 2016. (Photo by Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters)

A boy sleeps in a hammock while his mother works at a brick kiln on the outskirts of Yangon February 1, 2015. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)