Labourers pour molten iron into a container at a foundry in Xiangfan, Hubei province in this July 2, 2010 file photo. Iron ore is enjoying its biggest rally in years, outpacing copper and oil so far in 2016, but still weak forward prices show it may be tough to stretch the bullish outlook. Improving steel prices in top market China are helping fuel iron ore's climb as producers gear up for a seasonal uptick in demand. Yet there is no shortage of doubters who see gains in the bulk commodity as fleeting given a large glut and challenges for China's economy. (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)

In this September 27, 2017 file photo, girls walk past a wall riddled with bullet holes from shootings between rival drug traffickers, at the Rocinha slum, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Violence is on the rise in Rio's slums after several years of decline, and the killings of kids have shocked even residents long inured to deaths from gangs and police. (Photo by Silvia Izquierdo/AP Photo)

In this November 3, 2015 file photo, Afghan Taliban fighters listen to Mullah Mohammed Rasool, the newly-elected leader of a breakaway faction of the Taliban, in Farah province, Afghanistan. Despite US President Donald Trump’s pronouncement that there would be no talks with the Taliban following a series of deadly attacks in Kabul, officials say talks continue, but neither side trusts the other and neither believes the other negotiates independently. (Photo by AP Photo/Stringer)

In this Saturday, June 14, 2014 file photo, two women kiss in front of a rainbow flag, the symbol of the gay rights movement, during the Gay Pride parade in central Athens, Greece. Ahead of May 21, general elections, Alexis Tsipras, head of the main left-wing opposition party, Syriza, promised on Tuesday, April 4, 2023 to legalize same-s*x marriage if he becomes the next prime minister. (Photo by Petros Giannakouris/AP Photo)

In this October 6, 1976 file photo a member of a Thai political faction strikes at the lifeless body of a hanged student outside Thammasat University in Bangkok October 6, 1976. For some Thais, the bloody events of October 6, 1976 are still a nightmare. On that day, heavily armed security forces shot up Bangkok's Thammasat University campus and killed scores of students, while right-wing vigilantes captured would-be escapees, subjecting them to ghoulish lynchings. (Photo by Neal Ulevich/AP Photo)

In this Sunday, September 23, 2012 file photo, masked and armed Somali pirate Hassan stands near a Taiwanese fishing vessel washed ashore after the pirates were paid a ransom and the crew were released in the once-bustling pirate den of Hobyo, Somalia. Pirates have hijacked an oil tanker off the coast of Somalia, Somali officials and piracy experts said Tuesday, March 14, 2017, in the first hijacking of a large commercial vessel there since 2012. (Photo by Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP Photo)

In this March 22, 1975 file photo, a refugee clutches a baby as a government helicopter gunship carries them away near Tuy Hoa, Vietnam, 235 miles northeast of Saigon. They were among thousands fleeing from Communist advances. AP Photographer Nick Ut will be retiring from the AP in March 2017 after 51 years of taking photographs from the front lines of the Vietnam War to the red carpets of Hollywood. (Photo by Nick Ut/AP Photo)