A person holds a portrait of Alexander Lukashenko during an opposition rally in Independence Avenue in Minsk, Belarus on August 23, 2020. The political crisis continues in Belarus, which arose in connection with the presidential election held on August 9, the results of which are not recognized by the opposition. (Photo by Valery Sharifulin/TASS/Sipa USA)

A gilrl plays games in a shopping mall in Beijing, China, 24 November 2021. Demographers in China have called for more efficient implementation of supportive measures to encourage births to address the country's dwindling population growth as country's birthrate last year was 8.52 births per thousand people, the lowest level since 1978, according China Statistical Yearbook 2021. (Photo by Wu Hong/EPA/EFE)

French performer Odile De Mainville applies a makeup backstage before the Parisian transvestite cabaret show at “Madame Arthur” in Paris, on September 29, 2023. Open since 1946, Madame Arthur is the oldest transformist cabaret in Paris. Threatened with extinction the cabaret is undergoing a renaissance, attracting younger customers by returning to the fundamentals of the lie: baroque and queer performers who play with genres and conventions, and sing French hits live. (Photo by Joel Saget/AFP Photo)

Visitors hold mobile devicecs in front of the golden burial mask of King Tutankhamun during the first day for visitors after the official opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, Egypt, Tuesday, November 4, 2025. (Photo by Amr Nabil/AP Photo)

A koala soaked by floodwaters sits atop a fence post to escape the deluge in the town of Stirling in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia in this picture taken September 14, 2016. (Photo by Russell Latter/Reuters)

A minaret, that was damaged during fighting between Islamic State jihadists and government forces, is seen in Ben Guerdane, near the Libyan border, Tunisia April 10, 2016. After a U.S. air strike killed a Tunisian jihadist commander in western Libya in late February, dozens of Islamic State fighters sneaked across the border into Tunisia and attacked an army barracks and police bases in the town of Ben Guerdane. (Photo by Zohra Bensemra/Reuters)

A lemur licks a block of ice containing fruit at Rome's Bioparco zoo, Wednesday, July 5, 2017. Zookeepers at the Bioparco often give animals ice blocks with either fruit or meat on hot summer days. (Photo by Gregorio Borgia/AP 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)