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ABC of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights 2020 21 CAN THE COURT VISIT THE TERRITORIES OF STATES? The work of the Court is strictly judicial and concerns the competence bestowed upon it by theAmerican Convention,with regards to its three functions: contentious, precautionary, and advisory. Therefore it cannot, for example, pronounce upon the general human rights situation of a State or carry out visits in loco, as those are functions that derive from the competence of the Commission. However, under Article 58 of the Rules of Procedure, it can “at any stage of the proceedings” request the execution of procedures for taking evidence in the context of its processing of a contentious case. In this manner, the Court has undertaken visits in situ in States’ territories in the context of specific cases. For example, in 2019, the Court performed two on-site visits carried out in the context of the Case Indigenous Communities Members of the Lhaka Honkat Association v. Argentina, and Case of Artavia Murillo et al. (In Vitro Fertilization) v. Costa Rica. WHAT INFORMATION ABOUT THE COURT IS PUBLIC? Under its Rules of Procedure, the Court may make the following documents public: Its judgments and other decisions, including separate opinions, dissents, or concurrences, when the requirements mentioned in the Rules are met; parts of the file, except those that may be considered irrelevant or improper; the progression of the hearings via technological means; and all other documents considered proper. In addition, documents filed with the Secretariat of the Court, concerning cases that have already been decided, are publicly accessible, unless the Court has decided otherwise.