A homeless man sleeps against a wall adorned with a mural featuring a Shipibo Indigenous girl and Amazon rainforest animals, in Pucallpa, in Peru's Ucayali region, Wednesday, September 2, 2020. Peru is home to one of Latin America's largest Indigenous populations, whose ancestors lived in the Andean country before the arrival of Spanish colonists. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

Mother and son in disguise attend a Halloween celebration at Taipei Children's Amusement Park in Taipei, Taiwan, Sunday, October 29, 2023. (Photo by Chiang Ying-ying/AP Photo)

African ostrichs are seen during sunny autumn day in the largest ostrich farm “Nornieki” in Snepele, Latvia, 18 October 2021. (Photo by Toms Kalnins/EPA/EFE)

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 Nepalese man sits outside a Hindu temple as a goat rests on a parked scooter in Khokana, Lalitpur District, Nepal, Monday, September 26, 2016. Writing on the wall offers prayers to Hindu god Shiva. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)

Participants, one of them loosing balance, jump in a sack race at a shopping center in Paris to win a 500 euros voucher (537 USD), on the first day of the winter sales in Paris, France, Wednesday, January 6 , 2016. The five-week 2016 winter sales start everywhere across France on Wednesday Jan. 6 and end on Feb. 16. (Photo by Francois Mori/AP Photo)

Zulu maidens sings and dance as they arrive for the coronation event, at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, South Africa, Saturday, October 29, 2022. South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa on behalf of the government formally presented a certificate of recognition to His Majesty King MisuZulu ka Zwelithini of the AmaZulu. (Photo by Themba Hadebe/AP Photo)

Women sell bananas in the street, after traders in markets were prohibited from selling any non-food items in an attempt to halt the spread of the new coronavirus, in Kampala, Uganda Thursday, March 26, 2020. (Photo by Ronald Kabuubi/AP Photo)