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 lady-in-waiting adjusts the dress and Christian Louboutin shoes of Dayangku Raabi'atul 'Adawiyyah Pengiran Haji Bolkiah as Adawiyyah waits for Prince Abdul Malik to arrive for the “bersanding” or enthronement ceremony at their wedding in the Nurul Iman Palace in Bandar Seri Begawan April 12, 2015. Malik is the son of Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, one of the world's richest men. (Photo by Olivia Harris/Reuters)

Wayne McMahon from “The Wolfhound Experience” walking alongside four Irish Wolfhounds: Connell, Mac, Brendan, and Barra, accompanied by an Irish Terrier Lady MacBeth, at St. Stephen's Green in Dublin, Ireland, on May 16, 2024. The Wolfhound Experience offers a one-hour walking tour in Dublin's St. Stephens' Green, where visitors can meet and learn about Irish Wolfhounds, the gentle giants of the canine world. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Soldiers patrol in Petion Ville, the neighborhood where the late Haitian President Jovenel Moise lived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, July 7, 2021. Moïse was assassinated in an attack on his private residence early Wednesday, and first lady Martine Moïse was shot in the overnight attack and hospitalized, according to a statement from the country’s interim prime minister. (Photo by Joseph Odelyn/AP Photo)

Przemek Pawlicki performs during training in Leszno, Poland on May 12, 2016. A stunning action-packed catalogue of photographs from sporting events around the world has been released by Red Bull. The energy drink giant's photographers have been busy capturing extraordinary images of action sports and some of the world's greatest daredevils. (Photo by Lukasz Nazdraczew/Red Bull/SWNS.com)

A scantily-clad brunette is pictured passed out on the pavement. Mayhem hits the streets of Newcastle, UK as clubbers out on the Toon have a little too much to drink as they enjoy the Bank Holiday on August 29, 2016. Photographs take last night show scantily-clad women passed out on the pavement, while boozed-up men were caught arguing with police. (Photo by XposurePhotos.com)

In this November 2, 2018 photo, a voodoo believer who is supposed to be possessed with Gede spirit performs rituals near Baron Samedi's tomb during the annual Voodoo festival Fete Gede at Cite Soleil Cemetery in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. As a proof that they got into trance and their bodies got possessed by Gedes, they drink and wash their faces, their eyes and even their genitals with a mixture of raw rum and hot chili peppers that, according to believers, could burn the skin of any human alive. (Photo by Dieu Nalio Chery/AP Photo)

A view of the screen of a ZaZZZ vending machine that contains cannabis flower, hemp-oil energy drinks, and other merchandise at Seattle Caregivers, a medical marijuana dispensary, in Seattle, Washington February 3, 2015. Vending machines selling medical marijuana opened for business in Seattle on Tuesday, in what the company providing them billed as a first-in-the-state innovation that it expects to expand to other cities and states where pot is legal as medicine. (Photo by David Ryder/Reuters)