People light fireworks to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, in New Delhi, India on November 12, 2023. (Photo by Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters)

A woman walks while carrying pineapples on her head on a street in Kampala, Uganda on January 12, 2021. (Photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters)

Afghan boys play soccer in Chaman-e-Hozori park in Kabul City, on November 12, 2021. (Photo by Hector Retamal/AFP Photo)

As part of FLAIR Melbourne – a Flinders Lane art festival – Melbourne’s Lisa Minogue presents stylised photographic portraits of Australian women of colour, their faces painted vibrantly to accentuate their individuality and encourage the viewer to study each face more closely. Minogue asked each woman the same question: “What do the words “coloured girl” mean to you?”. (Photo by Lisa Minogue/The Guardian)

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 devotee smiles as she offers prayers during the Swasthani Brata Katha festival in Kathmandu, Nepal January 12, 2017. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

A group of fashionable nonagenarians pose for a photo in Pengzhou, Sichuan, China on October 12, 2016. (Photo by Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A makeup artist works on a model during the Tunis Fashion Week 2018 in Tunis, Tunisia, 12 May 2018. (Photo by Mohamed Messara/EPA/EFE)