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)

The aerobatic demonstration team of the Italian Air Force, the Frecce Tricolori (“Tricolor Arrows”), fly over the Basilica of Saint Mary of Health as they perform as part of a nationwide tour to show unity and solidarity following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Venice, Italy, May 29, 2020. (Photo by Manuel Silvestri/Reuters)

The winners in the third annual drone photography awards have been announced. Organised by the social network Dronestagram, the competition attracted more than 6,000 entries from amateur and professional drone enthusiasts across the world. Here: First place in the travel category went to the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi in Italy. (Photo by Francesco Cattuto)

Slovenian photographer Peter Gedei started caving 25 years ago and has carried a camera with him on every trip getting stunning pictures from his travels, capturing the ice formations, tight chambers and beautiful halls. Photo: The Ice Cave in Postojna, Slovenia. (Photo by Peter Gedei/Caters News)

A lone male cheetah is set upon by a pack of African wild dogs. Peter Haygarth had been following the dogs as they hunted in Zimanga Private Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. On first encountering the cheetah, the dogs were wary, but as the rest of the pack arrived, their confidence grew and they began to encircle the cat. Peter kept his focus on the cat’s face. In a few minutes the spat was over as the cheetah fled. (Behaviour: mammals category). (Photo by Peter Haygarth)

“Guns have a massive amount of power associated with them. They are designed to kill. We decided to photograph portraits of them in a similar way you might photograph a powerful person. Like powerful people, pistols have this “perfect” quality that we wanted to explore. As we started shooting them, we could see flaws in their design. Metal burring around the barrels, scratches in the metal. This imperfection and detail were very interesting to us; connecting us back to these images as portraits”. – Peter Andrew. (Photo by Peter Andrew/Simon Duffy/Derek Blais)

Armed police Taser a man inside the grounds of the Houses of Parliament on 11 December 2018. (Photo by Peter Nicholls/Reuters)

Daughter being told off by her mother. (Photo by Peter Dazeley/Getty Images)