A Japanese white-eye is seen on a branch of cherry blossoms at Kyoto Imperial Palace on March 26, 2010 in Kyoto, Japan. (Photo by Akihiro I/Getty Images)

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 selection of hand-made leis, traditional Hawaiian necklaces made of flowers and worn mostly on special occasions, fill a cooler at Lin's Lei Shop in the Chinatown district of Honolulu, Hawaii December 22, 2015. Hawaii, whose economy depends heavily on tourism, sees a brief lull in visitors each year in January and February. But in addition to the usual tourist destinations, the state shows a unique overlay of mainland U.S. culture atop tropical beauty year-round. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

A man holds a metal bar as a weapon during a training day for former soldiers and volunteers train in a makeshift camp in the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, October 28, 2015. Haiti disbanded its abusive armed forces two decades ago but uniformed veterans and young recruits are resurfacing to add another destabilising factor to the volatile Caribbean nation already dealing with a political vacuum. (Photo by Andres Martinez Casares/Reuters)

A newly wed couple jumps to pose for their wedding photographs after their group wedding ceremony which was held as part of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province January 6, 2015. The wedding ceremony was organised by the city government and 11 couples from China, Russia and Egypt participated in the ceremony. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

An older model Ford Mustang sits on cinder blocks with missing wheels near an abandoned apartment building in Detroit, Michigan January 7, 2015. Detroit, also known as the Motor City, is the historic hub of automobile manufacturing in the United States. A federal judge in December 2013 formally declared the city bankrupt but it won court approval to exit bankruptcy last November. Once the proud symbol of U.S. industrial strength, Detroit fell on hard times after decades of population loss, rampant debt and financial mismanagement left it struggling to provide basic services to residents. (Photo by Joshua Lott/Reuters)

A man holds a copy of the Koran during a protest against Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou's attendance last week at a Paris rally in support of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, which featured a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad as the cover of its first edition since an attack by Islamist gunmen, in Niamey January 17, 2015. (Photo by Tagaza Djibo/Reuters)

Men stand at the top of a traffic lights post as they attend a rally to protest against satirical cartoons of prophet Mohammad, in Grozny, Chechnya January 19, 2015. Tens of thousands of people staged the rally on Monday in Chechnya against French magazine Charlie Hebdo's cartoons of the prophet, which the predominantly Muslim region's leader denounced as “vulgar and immoral”. The posters read, “Mohammad”. (Photo by Eduard Korniyenko/Reuters)