Visitors look at the work titled “In Bed”, 2005 by Australian-born artist Ron Mueck at Triennale di Milano on January 09, 2024 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Giuseppe Cottini/Getty Images)

Women wearing braided straw hats dance as the Owara Kaze-no-Bon dance festival begins on September 1, 2025 in Toyama, Japan. The festival, believed to have more than 300 years history, continues till September 3. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)

A girl holds her newly purchased pet cat while posing for a photograph at a pet shop in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, 10 November 2025. Kashmir is seeing more pet owners, especially of Persian cats. Over 6,000 cat bite cases were reported last year, accounting for nearly half of the rabies control budget. Experts urge vaccination as demand for pedigree pets continues to rise. (Photo by Farooq Khan/EPA)

An animal enthusiast touches a Bearded Dragon displayed for sale as exotic pet at Thailand Reptile and Exotic Expo in Bangkok, Thailand, 02 August 2024. The Thailand Reptile and Exotic Expo is a trade showcase exhibiting hundreds of reptiles and exotic animals from breeders to sell as exotic pets for enthusiasts. (Photo by Rungroj Yongrit/EPA)

Youths play football in a flooded field following rain in Jantho, Aceh province on November 24, 2025. (Photo by Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP Photo)

A grey seal basks under a rainbow on a beach on the Lincolnshire coast, England on November 21, 2017. (Photo by Sean Weekly/Caters News Agency)

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 photograph made available on 30 September 2016 showing wind turbines at the site of the highest wind park in Europe at the Griessee, near the Nufenenpass in the Swiss south Alpes, Valais, Switzerland, on 23 September 2016. The four wind turbines of this wind park were developed by the company SwissWinds GmbH and are inaugurated on, 30 September 2016. (Photo by Olivier Maire/EPA)